Back To You
by yourfaithfulangel
Summary: “If she isn’t alive… we have to bring her body… back” can Naruto save Sakura in time? And what happens when she… A Naru/Saku story about bringing back what you love the most and loving the most of what you get back.
1. Chapter 1

Back to You

This is my second Naruto story, I thought I change it up a little bit from my last story. I love to read those reviews so please let me know what you think.

"speaking" ' _thinking_'

- - -

"_If she isn't alive, we have to bring her body…back_."

Naruto turned his eyes to the soft whisper behind him.

'_If she isn't alive…',_ he thought again and again. He wanted to punch something; he wanted to rip something from limb to limb to ease the pain that was aching at him.

'_How did it end up like this?'_, he cursed himself.

He was on the brink of insanity not knowing if he would recover. He had to be strong, the leader of the group, but she made him tear down the high walls inside his heart, and he hated that.

He turned and shot a glance at Sasuke who did not meet his gaze, but stayed focused on jumping from the broad branches.

They were moving at an incredible rate of speed, not even letting the moon trace a firm shadow on the ground.

They had to hurry; it might be the deciding moment for her.

**FLASHBACK**

"Naruto, Naruto" screamed an excited Sakura as she made her way into the Ramen shop. Naruto placed down his empty bowl and quickly wiped his face leaving green onion rings around the rim of his lips

"I have such great news. I am going on an S-class mission with Sasuke-kun.", she squealed.

Naruto fell out of his chair. '"Aw Sakura-chan you are still chasing after Sasuke even at the age of twenty-two."

Sakura helped him to his feet and wiped away the green onion rings from his face.

"Baka, sometimes I really worry about you" she sighed giving her best friend for years a disapproving nod.

Naruto just looked up and smiled, "When do you leave?"

"Tomorrow, this will finally be the chance I need to get him to fall in love with me. Once he sees how tough I have become he will most definitely notice me more than a friend."

Naruto let out a weary smile. No matter how much he tired to prove to Sakura that he loved her she would always brush it off as friendship.

"Well I hope the mission is a success", Naruto gave Sakura a wink and began to walk off.

"I'll come see you guys off tomorrow."

And sure enough the next day Naruto came to bid farewell to his best friends. Not dwelling much on the feeling that Sakura was going to make a move on Sasuke, but rather hoping for their safe return.

"When we get back we all should hang out to celebrate" Sakura stated.

"Just the four of us Kakashi-sensei, Sasuke, you and I", Sakura screamed as she headed out the gate of Konoha to Naruto. He simply shook his head in agreement and was gone in a flash.

The snap of a fragile tree branch brought Naruto out of his thoughts, as he turned back to glance at Sasuke once again.

Sasuke had a tranquil, unyielding look on his face, but Naruto knew his teammate and best friend better than anyone.

Sasuke on the exterior looked calm, but inside he was just as troubled about Sakura as Naruto. He knew he would never show his emotions for face value, but it was something you had to learn to adjust to; he was an Uchiha after all.

Sasuke did not allow the team to rest he wanted to consistently be on the move. Every second counted on reaching Sakura.

He cursed himself mentally for letting his friend end up in this mess, and vowed to do whatever it took to bring her home.

**FLASHBACK**

"The mission was a success, we can began to head home in the morning", let out an exhausted Sakura. She was finishing bandaging up the last wounded member.

All together there were only minor injuries acquired by the high class ninja, nothing too serious to worry about; the group would be home by nightfall.

Sakura scanned around and found Sasuke leaning against a tree. He hadn't even been scratched.

"As expected from the Uchiha" she giggled.

She stood up and casually made her way over to him, and took a sit. Sasuke didn't even turn to look at her as he began to speak.

"We should head out now."

Sakura didn't look at all amazed at what he was saying, Sasuke never liked to kill time.

They had been away from the village for over two months, but now that it was all over they could go home. She closed her eyes and leaned against the tree.

"Sasuke we are perfectly safe, there is no ru…"

She couldn't complete her sentence, because Sasuke had grabbed her, threw her on the floor and pushed his body on top of hers. She opened her eyes in shock, and turned the brightest cherry red.

"Sasuke-kun, what kind of a girl do you think I am? We should at least date first before…." she stated but stopped as she looked up at him.

To her surprise he wasn't even looking at her but instead at the place her head had been. Hanging in the tree was a kunai. She hastily realized they were under attack and Sasuke had saved her.

The campsite was quickly surrounded with rouge ninjas. They quickly began a killing spree among the campsite. Not soon after they attacked only Sakura and Sasuke were left alive.

Sasuke wouldn't give up, he fought each one off one by one, but as he killed one many more would appear. He had to protect Sakura, and at one point told her to run while he slowed them down.

Sakura stood her ground and fought just as powerfully as Sasuke, but the rouge Ninja outnumbered significantly. Soon she fell to the ground utterly drained of charka. Sasuke stood above her fighting for quite some time until he too fell to the floor drained fully of charka and almost on the threshold of death.

"Sir, should we kill the Uchiha, he killed many more men than predicted. Do we want the chance of him coming after us?", asked a grimy rouge ninja.

"…No, let him live and die out his days in the forest, he is on the brink of death, let him squirm. But…take the girl, she may prove interesting", a small grin came across the face of the head rouge ninja.

Sasuke increased his speed breaking every branch he landed on from sheer charka. He couldn't believe he wasn't able to protect Sakura. This was all his fault and he would hunt ever last person down to bring her back.

The team stopped swiftly on top of a hill, only to be greeted by Kakashi.

"This is the place", Kakashi instructed.

Konoha had gotten a lead that Sakura if alive was being held captive here in the Hidden Village of the Mist on a deserted compound.

It had been over two months since her disappearance and Kakashi knew better that the chances of her surviving were slim.

He also knew Sakura was like a daughter to him, and he would at least try to save her if he could, even if there was no hope at all.

A small unit had been comprised to bring her back. The Hokage was worried of letting Naruto go, but there was no stopping him.

"Naruto", Kakashi spoke in a firm tone as he turned to face his former student.

"We don't know what's down there; you need to keep your cool…for Sakura's sake."

Naruto knew what Kakashi was saying was right. As much as he wanted to run down there and scream Sakura's name from the top of his lungs he had to be rational.

All his years as an ANBU advised him to take matters slowly, but he still couldn't control the aching feeling in his heart.

'_if she isn't alive...'_

"Hang on Sakura…we're coming", he whispered.

Let me know what you guys think, and if I should keep going, I have a great idea about what should happen next!


	2. Dead or Alive

Thanks for the reviews, I forgot to mention in the first chapter that I obviously do not own Naruto, but I have got to mention that. Keep up with the great reviews and also remember I love hearing what you guys think. P.S. thank you for reading my story.

**Dead or Alive **

Naruto closed his eyes and disappeared in a blink of an eye, as the group lingered a moment longer on the steep hill.

"Will he be alright, if she isn't…", asked Sasuke looking out to the shining moon unable to finish his question.

"I don't know…", Kakashi responded in a firm tone.

In a flash the team separated prepared to conserve time by searching different sections of the large compound.

The compound stretched on for acres, anyone could easily get lost or worse if they were not skilled enough. Most of the compound lay a waste land with several large buildings. Naruto figured this must have been a training base.

Naruto searched hastily through the rooms for any sign of life, he needed to see anything that gave him more hope that Sakura was well, or at least alive.

He came to a halt at a large building where he noticed the rust on the windows and black mold that grew along the side of the door. He placed his hand gently on the door; he felt something, something deeper than he could explain.

Naruto slid the door open gradually and looked around the dark room. It seemed like no sign of life was present as he made his way around the room. Suddenly his nose caught hold of an appalling smell.

He smelled the stench of human decay; it leaked into his nose and made his stomach turn. He looked around to find the source of the smell; he followed the dreadful odor to another rusty door. He figured it must be a closet.

Then he thought of something that scared him to death. He closed his eyes panic overtaking him.

'_What…what if it is her?_' he thought

He stood in front of the door uncertain whether he wanted to open it or not. Naruto feared for a moment if he could handle it if it was her. He pushed the thought from his mind. He knew in his heart she was alive.

He reached for the knob; his soft hands shook as he slowly twisted the door handle open.

The body fell to the ground with a loud noise. Naruto looked down at the decayed body….he sighed in the utmost relief.

'_It wasn't her…it wasn't Sakura',_ he thought.

He stepped over the body and continued down the dark dreary hall. If Sakura was here he would find her. He would search everywhere until he found her.

He heard a slight noise come from behind a door. He walked slowly up towards it, as not to alert anyone he was here. He reached slowly in his pouch and pulled on three kunai which he held in his hand.

He pressed his ear against the door to see if he could hear voices. It was absolute silence again until he heard a slight noise ring in the room. He opened the door with haste and prepared to throw the kunai, when it became apparent to him that the noise was no more than a cat.

He lowered his weapon, tucking it back into his pouch and walked into the room. He bent down and patted the small cat on its head.

"Almost turned you into a cat-ka-bob", he whispered softly.

The cat simply purred tenderly under Naruto's warm hands, and suddenly dashed out the door. Naruto stood and followed it down the narrow hallway.

When he came to the end of the hallway, he could see a dim light through the crack of the last door. He then heard a violent scream, which caused the cat to hiss loudly and run in fear, back the way it had came. Naruto however knew that voice in an instant he knew that it was Sakura.

'_She's alive…_' he thought as he motioned toward the door, a look of anxiety and happiness mixed across his face. However a pool of blood spilled through the bottom opening of the rusty door which caused him to abruptly halt.

Naruto froze as he saw the luscious blood trail onto his shoes, and continue to run down the hallway at an alarming rate.

He knew whatever had happened behind the door someone was losing blood quickly, and for all he knew it could be Sakura. He knew the ANBU group advised safe precaution but right now he did not care about procedures or waiting for the others he had to help Sakura now.

Sakura was right behind this old door, he had to save her. He swung open the door and his heart jumped into his throat, as he took in the horrific sight.

There on the floor lying in a pool of blood was the body, ghastly as ever.

'She's…' Naruto began and stood stiff in the spot as he took in the sight.

The body twitched on the ground, as the blood flowed like a river from the throat. Naruto took a step into the room so he was directly above the body.

He bent down to check the pulse rate. He heard two low beats, before it quickly died out, the twitching had ceased.

Naruto scanned the large room in search.

Huddled in the corner of the room was the cause of this mission, the very being he swore to protect till his last breath.

She was squatted down with the very kunai she had used to slit the now dead man's throat. Naruto did not care what she had done all that mattered was that she was alive.

Fresh blood dripped from the end of the kunai. It looked eerie to see sweet, lovable Sakura in such a state, but Naruto advanced toward her prepared to take her home at last. Back to the cute, enchanting Sakura he cared so much about.

Her face was buried into her lap as she was crying quietly not noticing her best friend and former teammate in front of her.

When she looked up and saw him coming she knew what she had to do.

"Stay…back", she said in a barely audible voice, ceasing the tears in her eyes as she looked up.

Naruto froze.

Her beautiful emerald orbs were replaced by a dull green, which had no familiarity of who he was. She stood there looking at him, as if he was no better than the ninja she had just killed.

"Sakura-chan….what's wrong…its… me Naruto….", he stood there his voice raspy.

"I…said stay away, or I will kill you too", she pointed the bloody kunai at Naruto.

He stood there, simply stood and let the words submerge in one by one.

"Kill…me?", he repeated.

muhahaha gotta wait to find out what happens!


	3. Rest of Me

Alright here is an update on the story, review on what you think so far! I have some great ideas just got to pick one and work with it. I love the encouraging reviews, you guys rock!

Chapter Title: Rest of me

"Kill…me", he repeated again, each word throbbing at his heart.

She stood ready, limping to one side most likely from an injury. She gripped the kunai firmly unsure of what this new threat would do.

She was a mess. Her clothes were tattered; holes ensued along the hems that held it all together. Her exposed skin had numerous minuscule cuts along with deep bruise marks up and down her body.

Her lovable face, replaced with black bags under her eyes and discoloration of her unhealthy treated skin. Dried blood was smeared on her hands, and legs, even in her once soft pink hair. She was shaking, kunai still in hand.

Her legs shook in a violent manner wanting to buckle, but the look of determination to fight still present on her exhausted face.

"You don't kill, it is not in your nature", Naruto responded.

Sakura eyes widen, "Who do you think you are… if it is not my nature why is he dead."

Naruto stood dumbfounded; she really did not remember who he was. He took a step forward causing her to become alarmed, and her posture changed to attack.

She pulled out another kunai and threw it.

THUD!

The kunai flew past Naruto's head and hit the wall. A few pieces of his blond hair stuck out of the sharp end of the kunai. With years of experience, Naruto knew that kunai was meant to kill, but due to Sakura's poor condition it was not fully on track of its target.

Naruto put his hands in the air, and tried to calm her down. He could see one of her eyes closing and he knew she wouldn't last long at this rate.

"How… can you not remember…me. I am your best friend, we grew up together. We..", he cut himself short, when the Sasuke and Kakashi made their entrance.

"Don't scare her", he stated promptly as he turned to them.

All three men stood quiet for a moment. Sasuke and Kakashi analyzed the situation quickly, and swiftly knew something was wrong.

"Sakura-chan…you are alive", Sasuke stated out loud a mix of relief and joy across his face.

Sakura's face still full of fear and anger lowered her weapon slightly. She would have killed the blonde in an instant if she could, but this was the second person to call her…Sakura. She had to know, she had to know what was going on.

"Is that my name…Sakura?"

She was met with wide eyes from all three.

'_Wait what if this is a trick to torture me…to hurt me…'_ she let herself get lost in her thoughts as the men began to discuss the perplex problem at hand. .

Kakashi took note of her injuries and noticed a large gash on her head. He informed Naruto and Sasuke to look deeper at Sakura's head injury. Both Naruto and Sasuke turned their eyes to Sakura's head injury. Most of the blood was clumped in one area. They quickly deduced that she must have suffered from a blow to the head that was causing some kind of memory block.

"We need to get her home…or at least get the medic to check her out. We need to get a better understanding of her condition. We don't know how serious her condition is until we understand what is going on." stated Kakashi.

Sasuke and Naruto nodded in agreement, but both knew it would was easier said than done. They didn't know If Sakura remembered how much strength she really had in her. Sakura would not let them just take her especially since she didn't not know who they were. They were more afraid that she would end up hurting herself.

So it was a stand still between the former team 7.

Sakura looked back and forth between the three men. One was tall and had a thin build; he had a mask that covered his face. His silver hair shined in the dim light. She could tell he was older than the other two. She noticed the scar that was present above his eye.

The other man was also very muscular; he showed no facial emotion he had dark black raven hair. His deep onyx eyes looked like a deep black hole, and behind him was a long sword.

The last man, the blonde who had found her had a pain stricken look across his face, as if it hurt him to see her. His eyes were like an ocean a surreal deep blue. He had slight marks on his face, unlike scars they were lined up in patterns. The bright orange he wore was hard to miss, but was offset by the black. He had a headband across his head. She did not recognize what village he was from…she than realized she didn't even know what village she was from.

"If Sakura is my real name…and you know me…how could…how could you let this happen to me. How could you just leave me here…to riot", she screamed kunai clutched tightly in hand.

Sasuke winched as she screamed, each word bearing the truth. He had let this happen to her, he had let her down.

"It is not your fault Sasuke, you did everything you could", Naruto replied.

Sakura's breathing became faced paced, and everyone took notice.

"Sakura, you need to calm yourself, your having an anxiety attack. Your flow of chakra is uneven; it can kill you if you don't stop." Kakashi screamed to her.

Kakashi knew he had to act fast, "Naruto you are the fastest, you need to knock her out."

Naruto threw a look at Kakashi… "I can't do that, she doesn't trust us as it is."

"If you don't do it, she will die standing there."

Naruto didn't have to think twice after he heard what Kakashi had said.

'_I'm sorry Sakura'_ he thought as he flashed in front of her

Sakura's eyes widened. She was losing conscious and fell backward; Naruto reached out and grabbed her in time, leaning her back gently.

"Please…please just kill me…no more torture…I don't know anything.", was all Naruto could make out as her eyes shut.

Sakura shifted silently in his arms. He held her tight as he swiftly jumped from the tree branches. They were moving out of the eerie compound, toward their campsite they had set up. Sakura lay motionless in his arms.

Sakura knew she didn't have an ounce of strength in her, but could feel the cold air rushing to her face. She was being moved, which frightened her, she barely opened her eyes to see the blonde man was carrying her in his arms. He was speaking softly to her.

"Hold on Sakura, I won't let anything happen to you, you just have to hold on….till we get home."

"_Home…do I have a home"_ thought Sakura.

She fainted out of conscious as Naruto continued to leap forward. Even caring Sakura, Naruto was moving at an incredibly speed. Kakashi knew he was eager to get her home so they could figure out what to do about her memory loss. Kakashi pushed himself to catch Naruto.

"We need to stop and rest at the campsite; she won't make it home unless we clean her wounds. Some of them are already infected."

Naruto nodded in agreement, his former sensei knew him so well, he wanted to rush home to Konoha but he had to be rational about what he did for Sakura's sake.

Upon reaching the campsite, Naruto placed Sakura on a makeshift bed near the fire.

"Get the medic", he ordered.

Sasuke stood above him looking down at Sakura. She looked pale as the glow of the fire bounced off her skin. He walked away from the campsite clearly upset with something as the medic took a seat near Sakura.

The medic quickly began to clean the obvious dangerous wounds and those that were infected. Naruto lingered over her shoulder, carefully watching. He took a closer look at Sakura's injury on her head and noticed the cut was much deeper than expected. It took nearly two hours to take care of all her dangerous wounds. The group reconvened about what they should do. Kakashi agreed that he would send one unit out to scan the area ahead, while Naruto, Sasuke and himself would remain through the night and head out with Sakura in the morning.

"What should we do if she wakes up", Naruto asked looking out at the sky.

Kakashi sighed heavily, "The medic gave me this."

He held out a small bottle with a tiny needle.

"We will have to sedate her."

Naruto didn't move from his spot, he understood that Kakashi had to do what was necessary to keep her alive, until baa-chan could cure her. Naruto simply nodded his head in exhaustion.

"We don't need her to have another attack like that. It is the only way to get her home safe." Sasuke responded from behind a tree.

He sat in solitude and watched Sakura sleep from afar. He was worried about her losing her memory even though his expression on his face did not display it.

Naruto as well looked from the starry sky to Sakura, who was sleeping in silence. He never expected to find her like that. He thought he would save her, and she would hug him and hit him for hugging her first, and she would tell him about all the pain she had gone through, but how she never gave up believing they would come for her.

He never dreamed that she wouldn't remember who he was, who Sasuke or Kakashi were. He never dreamed that he would find her, and she wouldn't be herself anymore.

Kakashi's hand rested on Naruto shoulder, "We found her alive Naruto, that is a good place to start don't you think? I am sure when we get her home, everything will be fine."

Naruto gave a silent nod and decided he would keep first watch. He turned and walked toward Sakura where he took a seat in front of her.

Kakashi smiled as Naruto walked away, but when Naruto was out of sight he gazed up at the moon. "He knew…everything might not be okay, but he couldn't tell Naruto that at this moment. The injury to Sakura's head was by far the worst he had seen, and he didn't know how much damage had been done.

"Please…I don't…know…don't hurt me…please." Sakura shifted from position to position. She was whispering words in her sleep.

Naruto stood above her. He quickly sat down and stroked her hair gently.

"It's okay Sakura-chan, I'm here, and nothing is going to happen to you. I will protect you I promise. I promise."

Sakura eased, and the faint whisper began to die down. She began to breathe in a calm state again and fell back into a deep sleep.

Naruto sat by her side the whole night, unwilling to move. When Kakashi and Sasuke woke up he was slouched over near Sakura sleeping peacefully.

"What wouldn't he do for Sakura?", Kakashi asked turning to Sasuke.

Sasuke just looked at him a small smile set upon his face.

It came time to move out, and Kakashi pulled out the small vial that the medic had gave him.

"We need to give this to her now. If she woke up while we are moving her it may lead to troubles."

Both Naruto and Sasuke as painful as it was to agree nodded their heads.

Kakashi bent down and injected the vial into her arm.

"That should keep her asleep until we reach Konoha", he motioned to pick Sakura up, when he saw Naruto bend down instead.

"Kakashi-sensei, I would like to carry her home please."

"Will you be alright Naruto, you have not slept well since the start of this mission."

"I will be okay, I just need to get her home and then I can worry about rest."

Kakashi nodded in agreement, all three men jumped up onto a branch and headed off into the distance. The sun was yet to rise. They would be home by nightfall. Hopefully than they would get some answers on what would happen to Sakura.


	4. Me again

Please Read and Review! And like always thanks for reading.

Chapter Title : Me again

It killed Naruto inside to see Sakura hooked up to so many machines. He sat there in the room refusing to leave. The apparent exhaustion present on his face. Kakashi and Sasuke along with Naruto had been in Sakura's hospital room over an hour.

Naruto leaned against the wall and looked out the window the clear night brought a chilly wind as the leaves danced around on the street. Tsunade had come to see Sakura, the noticeable look of sadness and joyfulness mixed across her face.

Naruto, Kakashi and Sasuke stood straight up as she made her way into the room.

"You found her…", she let out a sigh of relief.

"Everything will be okay now and we can go back..", she began to speak but the concerned looks across the men's faces stopped her.

"What is it? What haven't you told me yet?" Tsunade asked a look of distress present across her face.

And so they walked out of Sakura's room into the waiting area of the hospital. Kakashi explained everything, and Tsunade took a seat as he finished.

"I presume it has something to do with the large gash on her head, it might have caused the memory lose." Kakashi answered as Tsunade stood to her feet.

"I am going to examine her, but I need all of you to stay here."

Naruto raised his head in objection from the spot on the floor he was looking at.

"Naruto, I know how you feel, but I need to get to the bottom of this, if she at least comes into conscious we don't want to scare her. Go home get some sleep, that's an order and come back in the morning, all of you."

Naruto was not one for listening to orders, but the fatigue was taking its toll. He knew in his heart he did not want to leave, but he needed to get at least a few hours of sleep to be revitalized again.

All three men nodded and split as they headed out. When Naruto reached his apartment he took a shower, and fell onto the bed. He closed his eyes and drifted into a deep sleep.

_**Flaskback-**_

"Naruto, Naruto…where is your lunch." Sakura asked opening the box of goodies she had packed for herself.

"Aw Sakura-chan I ate it for breakfast, but don't worry I'm not hungry.", Naruto protested which caused his tummy to make a funny noise

Naruto blushed a cherry red, as he reached to grab his stomach.

Sakura gave him a stern look. She knew he was hungry, but wouldn't admit it. She softened her face into a smile.

"How about I share with you, this is too much for me anyway." She said holding out the dish of lovely dumplings.

Naruto's eyes widened at all the treats. He reached over unlike himself and took one and thanked her softly.

This was also a surprise for Sakura, who would have projected him to dive in, and eat like a child. They sat there in silence as the cherry blossoms danced in the wind enjoying their dumplings.

_**End Flashback-**_

The sun beamed onto Naruto's eyes and caused him to open them in haste. He seemed blinded by the warm glow. He turned over to look at the clock which read 9:00am

He jumped up in a rush and dressed himself, he knew he was late, and Sasuke and Kakashi would already be at the hospital; he was at last going to get some answers on Sakura.

He arrived to the hospital in a few moments and rushed to Sakura's room when he arrived the room was empty, well besides for Sakura.

He looked around wondering where everyone had gone. He walked over to Sakura, her skin looked like it finally had some color, and some of the machines she was hooked to the other night were gone. Many of her bruises were healed by Tsunade. The most important thing was she was breathing on her own. Naruto reached his hand to touch her forehead.

_**Flashback-**_

"Everyone makes fun of my forehead." , Sakura told Naruto.

"I like it, you don't have a big forehead at all.", he stated

Sakura hit him hard across the back. "I never said it was BIG, Naruto", she screamed as she chased him down the street.

_**END flashback-**_

"There you are…"

Naruto turned around to find Sasuke waiting at the door, "We are in the waiting area. Tsunade-same is about to tell us about Sakura's condition."

Naruto shook his head, and followed Sasuke to where Kakashi and Tsunade were waiting.

All three men stood in front of the fifth Hokage as she began to speak.

"She is doing well, all her vital signs seem to be stable and no signs of any intern damage. She can make a full physical recovery."

Naruto let a smile slip on his face. He was feeling relived that baa-chan was able to cure Sakura.

"I knew all we had to do was get her home, and you would be able to cure her." Naruto blurted out. He smiled toward everyone in the room, when his smile was not returned he looked back at Tsunade.

"She is physically going to be alright Naruto, but her mental or more so her memory….that hasn't changed."

Naruto looked bewildered, "Well just go in there and repair it, why are you waiting around.."

"I can't…I can't just repair it Naruto. It is more complicated than just fixing it. The brain is a complex thing, any little thing can help trigger her memory or…she may never get her memory back. She may just have bits and pieces of it the rest of her life we have no way of knowing which one it is until we learn more about her condition.

"Never…get her memory back." Naruto repeated out loud over and over again until it finally sunk in.

There was a light knock on the door, a petite nurse stuck her head in and informed the small group that Sakura was coming into consciousness.

Naruto looked around the room, not knowing what to expect.

"We can see her", Tsunade stated as the group made their way into her room.

Sakura was sitting in her bed looking out the window; she couldn't remember when she had seen the sky so bright blue before. Two birds were chirping outside her window. She thought to herself, '_Could this really be home?'_

She was startled when she saw strangers enter her room. She looked around and realized these were the men that had saved her from her confinement. They stood away from her as if she was some kind of explosive that would blow. Her eyes scanned over each of them. She paused and looked at Naruto with deeper curiosity.

"Wh-who am I?", she asked in a low tone. It made Naruto have chills to see her like that looking at him like a stranger.

Tsunade spoke first, "Your name is Sakura, and you live in the Hidden Village of the leaf, Konoha."

Sakura looked back out the window as the birds flew away. She sat silent for a moment, and again turned her head toward the group.

"What happened to me?"

Sasuke couldn't help but speak up, "We were on a mission, we were ambushed, and you were kidnapped, we have been looking for you for over two months", he responded.

"Why…can't I remember anything?"

You received a fatal hit to the head, due to the severe amount of blood loss and lack of care to heal it; we believe that is the main cause", Kakashi responded.

Naruto just stood quietly as Sakura asked more questions, each person took time answering but Naruto just stood, he didn't know why he couldn't say anything.

Sakura looked directly at Naruto.

"You found me, I had intended to kill you", she stated.

All three turned to look at Naruto who shook his head as he looked down at the floor.

"You looked so hurt when you saw me…are we good friends?", Sakura asked.

Naruto shook his head, in a low voice he answered, "We are best friends Sakura…best friends."

Sakura's eyes widened…she than asked a question that no one had an answer too.

"How do I get my memory back?"

The room fell silent as Tsunade made her way over to Sakura, she motioned to take a seat and Sakura nodded her head in agreement.

"Sakura…we…don't know yet how to get your memory back, we are working on finding out more knowledge on how to come about with safe cures to retrieve your memory."

Sakura responded, "So in other words I may not ever get my memory back. I may never get back to who I was, I may never remember the faces of my family again….my family. Do I have any family?"

Tsunade closed her eyes and opened them, she turned back to look at Kakashi, Sasuke and Naruto who took in her stern feature.

"Your mother and father died three years ago."

Sakura closed her eyes; she expected tears to run down her face something anything after hearing that her family had died. But nothing came out. She opened them and looked around the room.

"I can't even cry…after hearing this…because I can't put a face to my parents."

Naruto squeezed his hand in frustration. This was killing her…and it was killing him to see her this way. Naruto reached inside the bag that he had brought and pulled out a small frame. He made his way over to Sakura.

He stood behind Tsunade and handed Sakura the small frame. Sakura took the frame and intently look at it.

It was a photo of the blonde boy, the dark haired, and silver haired man. In the middle was a young girl with beautiful pink hair.

"My name is Naruto.", he said sticking out his hand.

Sakura looked at his hand and back at his face, he had this wide grin like there was on worry in the world. She looked down at the photo and back at him.

She placed her hand into his and spoke, "Nice to meet you Naruto…is this me in the photo?"

It quickly occurred to everyone that Sakura had not seen her own face, since her memory loss. Tsunade asked for a mirror and handed it over to her.

Sakura looked at herself, though her hair was shorter now, and her features in a worse state, she could immediately tell she was the girl in the photo. She looked back to the group.

Sasuke made his way over and introduced himself. It was quite strange, kind of like going back into the past. "My name is Uchiha Sasuke."

Sakura nodded, "Hello Sasuke." This kind of stunned Sasuke as he had never heard Sakura say his name with the "kun" to follow.

I am Kakashi, I was your former sensei" he said in a heartfelt smile.

Sakura nodded, "Hello Kakashi-sensei."

After the introductions, Sakura asked quite a number of questions before running out of energy, she wanted to know more, but Tsunade thought it was enough for one day. The group exited her room, and made their way to the Tsunade's office to discuss what to do about Sakura.

Naruto realized before he exited the hospital that he had left his bag in Sakura' room, and he headed back to get it. When he arrived he knocked lightly on the door, when he heard no answer he just stuck his head in to see a sleeping Sakura.

He made his way over and picked up his bag, and the picture that was laying flat on the desk. He was making his way out when Sakura's faint voice stopped him.

"Naruto?"

He at first was startled but quickly turned around to be met with her eyes.

"I will get my memory back…wont I?"

Naruto pondered on what he would say…"Yes. Sakura you will…it's a promise, and I don't go back on my promises."

He smiled at her as he turned to leave.

"Will you leave the picture here, by me Naruto?"

He turned around once again and walked over to her bed and placed the photo upright on her desk.

He said his goodbyes again and headed out of the hospital.

'_This is my family.' _Sakura thought as she drifted into a peacefully sleep.


	5. Still Me

Please read and review the more the merrier! I love to hear what you think, I think I gotta add some juciy drama soon so stay tuned!

Chapter Title: Still Me

"When can I go home?", Sakura asked in a calm but stern voice. It had been the same question she asked everyday for almost a week and half. Tsunade realized Sakura desire to leave the hospital and reside in her own home; therefore she asked Naruto and Sasuke to meet her in her office to discuss what they would do about Sakura.

To no surprise Tsunade's office was messier than ever, but no one cared to bring it up at the current moment.

"I want each of you to spend time with Sakura individually, take her through the city and remind her of her past life it may help her remember more. There is no way we know until we try", Tsunade stated.

She stood and handed Sasuke a small piece of paper which he took without hesitation, it was a small list of things to do, "Sasuke I would like you to take her around today, get her acquainted with her surroundings."

Sasuke shook his head slightly, but not fully understanding why Tsunade would pick him to take her over Naruto. Naruto was so much better in situations like this. Tsunade turned to face Naruto, "If Sakura feels well after her day with Sasuke I would like for you to take her Naruto."

He shook his head in agreement, Naruto was just glad that Sakura was finally leaving the hospital, he didn't like being there for too long and he could tell either did Sakura.

Spending a whole day with Sakura, that was like a dream come true given the circumstances he wished it was the old Sakura he was used too. He however lost his train of thought when Tsunade opened the door and Sakura walked in dressed in her old outfit.

She looked like an angel, or that is what Naruto thought of her when he saw her. Naruto just looked at her; if she didn't know about her memory loss he swear she would hit him ten feet across the room for thinking how beautiful she looked at that moment.

He shook the thought from his mind as Sakura and Sasuke headed for the door. Naruto would have to wait his turn, just at that moment Sakura turned around and gave Naruto a small smile before heading off, leaving butterflies in his very empty stomach.

He flashed Tsunade a notably smile before disappearing in a flash.

Tsunade simply shook her head, "Just like his father", she let out as she settled into her seat.

The day was finally over for Naruto as he headed home; he had trained all day and could feel the burning ache beneath his skin. Small tears of water could be felt falling from the sky as he reached his door.

Naruto let out a heavy sigh as he placed the towel around his neck, it had been such a long day and taking a hot shower had relaxed his tensemuscles. He headed into his bedroom and crashed onto the bed. Smalldroplets of water that were not wiped away slid down his neck.

His bare back touched the warm comforters that caused a soothing warmth to engulf his body. He tuned everything out and just reflected on the day, the once light droplets were replaced by heavy rain drops that could be heard hitting against the roof of his apartment.

Tomorrow would be his day to take Sakura around and get her used to her familiar surroundings. In all honesty Naruto did not know what he was going to do. He had no clue where he would take her or how he would explain things to her, he wasn't very good at stuff like that.

His eyes were heavy and the thought of sleep came quickly to his mind, he laid in bed still tuning out all the sounds until one little sound pulled him out of his relaxed state.

A heavy knock could be heard at the door. Naruto let out a small groan, as the knocking stopped for a moment. Yet after a moment of silence it could be heard again.

Naruto knew all too well it would be his pervy sage coming over to tryto get Naruto to go spy with him in the hot springs, or help him do "research" for his new book idea. Last time he helped pervy sage, he was sore in bed for a week from all the beat downs he had received.

Again the knocking stopped, this time for longer than a moment. Naruto let a grin find its way to his face, until a slight knock came again. Naruto sighed heavily getting up from his comfy spot and heading toward the door. Before he opened it however he placed the towel over his head covering his face entirely as he swung the door wide open.

"Look pervy sage, I am not going to sneak into the lady's hot spring, I am not going to do your kind of research on women just so I can get beat up, and I most definitely will not read one of your pervy storiesOkay!"

"Na..Naruto?"

Naruto lifted the towel off of his head quickly to meet eyes with a drenched Sakura."

She was soaking wet from head to toe, the ends of her hair had droplets falling from them, and one of her hands was covering her chest and the other one was around her waist. It seemed like she had an invisible shield that wasn't doing much good of keeping her sheltered from the rain.

"Sakura-chan?"

Naruto quickly pulled her inside his apartment and closed the door. In a split second he wrapped his towel around her shoulders to make her stop shivering.

"What are you doing here, are you okay is something wrong?", Naruto asked in a rushed tone. His face became alarmed.

"No…no nothings wrong…its just I don't know…I had more questions and I couldn't sleep…Sasuke showed me your apartment, It is only down the street from mine…I mean of course you know it is down the street from mine you didn't lose your memory I did…", Sakura realized she was babbling.

She paused a moment before she continued, "I thought I just thought… Icould just come here.", she managed to get out.

Naruto placed his hand behind his head and ruffled his hair; he was flattered that Sakura would think to come to him. The old Sakura would have tried to run into Sasuke's arms instead of his.

"I'm sorry for just barging in like this…I was just so….", she began taking the towel off and heading back to the door.

Naruto grabbed her by the wrist and stopped her, "Sakura-chan…it is okay, I am here for you, I don't mind, but what I am concerned about is getting you out of those clothes."

Just after Naruto had said it, it fully crossed his mind that it came out not the way he had intended it too. The two jumped apart quickly each blushing slightly.

"I mean you might want to change into some dry clothes."

"uh..yeah, t-thank you."

Naruto walked into his bedroom and came out with a dress shirt, and some shorts. "This should do," he said handing Sakura the clothes and pointing toward his bedroom. Sakura shook her head and headed in that direction, as Naruto heard the door shut he hurried around his apartment to clean up.

He knew he wasn't as messy as before, but it was not in its best shape right now either. When he heard the door click open, he dropped all the stuff out of his hands onto the floor again. Sakura walked out in his dress shirt, it was a little shorter than her knees, and it almost looked like a loose dress on her.

"Uh…let me make some warm tea", he said hurrying out of the living room. When he came back out she was sitting tensely on the couch. He handed her the tea and turned his back against the wall and leaned back holding his own tea cup in his hands.

Sakura looked at him for a moment; it was now she noticed his bare chest. When she first saw him she didn't know he was this muscular but in the dim light, his muscles glimmered in the light. He had a toned body and his abs curved evenly, his arms were large but not in a bulky way, Sakura figured he was giving her a weird look because she was staring at him so she blushed slightly and looked away.

"Are you warm enough?", he asked before sipping his tea quietly as he looked at her from across the room.

"Hn" she replied looking around the living room at the various pictures.

'_Just like how Sasuke answers_,' thought Naruto. He never would have dreamed of a day like this, Haruno Sakura, pink haired goddess half clothed in his apartment. The guys would never believe him even if he tired. He shook the thought from his head as he caught Sakura's eyes looking at something other than his.

He knew exactly what she was gawking at and as much as he hoped it washis abs, he knew it was his decorative demon seal.

"Do you remember what it is?" he asked

She looked deep into his ocean blue eyes, trying to retrieve a memory of what theseal might be, but was unsuccessful. Her lack of response gave Naruto a definite answer, but before he opened his mouth to speak again he thought about what he would say. He was once hated, once feared for having this demon inside of him, and now the girl of his dreams and best friend didn't even remember, wasn't that supposed to be a good thing. Wasn't that supposed to make Naruto's chances better for when he told her the truth about how much he loved her.

He thought for a moment or two and looked back at Sakura who had the look of a lost girl in her eyes. She wanted to know the truth, and in Naruto's heart he knew he couldn't keep anything from her. He walked over until he stood above her, until she could see the seal up close.

"It is to hold back the nine-tail demon fox."

Her facial expression remained blank, she didn't understand. Naruto knew he would have to go much deeper than that to get her to understand. "When I was born my father sealed the demon fox inside of me to save the village of Konoha, in doing so it killed him. I was feared and hated for my whole life because of the demon inside of me. It destroyed everything and because it was inside of me, everyone blamed me for its destruction." Naruto kept explaining, but Sakura just started to tune him out as she looked intently at the seal.

It occurred to Naruto, that what he was telling her might scare her, and she would want to leave in fear; it wasn't everyday you hear of a demon being sealed away inside someone's body.

She thought a moment before she asked her next question.

"Was I me…was I mean to you too Naruto?", uncertainty in her voice.

Naruto looked down at her; he remembered all the things she would say to him in the beginning about what he was and how he would never be good enough. He was taken back at what he would say but his lack of words gave Sakura a firm answer.

She stood to her feet, her head only reached up to Naruto's chin. Than she did something neither fully expected. She hugged him. She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him.

"I am sorry Naruto, I don't know if I ever told you that, but even if I get my memory back, I never want the memories of calling you such names because of this demon."

Naruto stood frozen, he wanted to wrap his arms around her and lift her into the air, and tell her with his entire heart that he didn't care what she said to him than, but all that mattered was how much he loved her right this moment.

But he didn't. He couldn't do that to her, knowing in the back of his mind that if she had her memory, she would be with Sasuke right now, that she would want his arms around her and not Naruto's. If Naruto did anything now, he would feel like he was taking advantage of her because of her memory loss. He would never do that, he loved her too much.

After Sakura released him, she brought her hand up to cover a large yawn that escaped from her mouth. Naruto took a few steps back to make sure there was enough distance between them.

"I think you need to get some rest, why don't you sleep in my room…"

Sakura turned her head up in a surprised manner.

"While I sleep on the couch" he finished.

Sakura disagreed, but in the end Naruto made it quite clear he wouldn't let her sleep on the couch.

As she got ready for bed she asked Naruto a question that even took her by surprise.

"Naruto…do you love someone?"

Naruto returned her gaze with his deep blue eyes.

"Curious are we?" he responded

Sakura took it upon herself to understand that maybe she had crossed the line by asking Naruto that kind of question.

"Oh, I'm sorry it is quite rude of me, I just thought maybe I would remember something. I feel like every question answered might take me one step closer to my memory."

She waved her hand in the air carelessly to dismiss the topic and turned her back to Naruto as she headed toward his bedroom.

"Yes…", he answered

She turned around, surprised by his sudden answer.

"Yes, I love someone. She is wonderfully, she is my everything, and when she comes back to me this time, I will never let her go without telling her how much I love her." Sakura nodded her head slowly by his sudden answer, almost in a daze like state by the answer he gave her.

"Do you remember anything…?", he asked quietly

She shook herself out of the trance and shook her head slightly, "No, but thank you and goodnight Naruto", Sakura stated as she closed the door.

"Goodnight Sakura", Naruto whispered as he placed his hand on the door.

"Yeah great Naruto that is gonna work, talking to her behind a closed door sure she will realize how much I...", he commented out loud.

Sakura opened the door, "Did you say something?"

Naruto turned around quickly plastering a wide smile on his face, "No…", he laughed nervously.

Sakura firmly nodded her head and closed the door, as Naruto crash landed on the couch for some much needed sleep.


	6. New Found Friends

**Please Please Review! Thanks for reading**

New found Friends- -

Sakura looked at Naruto, who slept in a twisted position as he snored loudly. She gently poked him.

"But Sakura…I…love…ramen."

She snorted a little upon hearing this statement. Than Sakura had a wonderful idea for her "best friend." When Naruto woke it wasn't because his eyes opened, but more so because of his nose. He could smell ramen in the air and that was the loudest alarm clock to Naruto. When he opened his eyes the apartment was spotless and breakfast was on the table.

"Finally awake are we.", Sakura stated

After the delicious breakfast Naruto and Sakura got ready to leave, "Okay it seems baa-chan has given us a detailed list of things to do."

"Baa-chan?", Sakura inquired.

"Hokage-sama", Naruto answered.

"Such defiance, to your Hokage?", Sakura questioned.

"Yeah, well we have a special bond, you'll remember in time," Naruto noted.

He looked down at the long list which just seemed to be too boring.

"What does the list say? Are you going to give me a history lesson about the village and its monuments, like Sasuke did?" Sakura asked.

Naruto looked down at the list and then back to Sakura, he grinned slightly. He placed the paper flat in his hand. Sakura looked at him with a questioning glance Naruto began to rip the paper with his wind charka. Sakura only stood in silence.

"What list?", Naruto beamed. She looked at him his blond hair shining wildly in the sun. His small grin grew to an elaborate smile.

"I seem to have misplaced it, so we are just going to have a little adventure."

Naruto expected Sakura to scream and hit him for ripping up the list, but to his surprise she returned his grin with one of her own. They began to walk when Sakura asked Naruto a simple question.

"Are Kakashi-sensei, Sasuke and you my only friends?"

Naruto had placed his arms behind his head as they walked around; put unfolded them as Sakura asked her question.

"No Sakura, you have a lot of friends that care about you, and I think that is where we are going to begin. Your _friends_."

Naruto led Sakura into a small shop; the scent of flowers filled her nose as she tried to remember her past.

As Naruto pushed the door open the bell hanging on top rang to alert the owners they had customers.

"Please hold on for one moment I will be right there."

Naruto took a seat on the stool and Sakura made her way around the shop.

Ino could be seen coming from the storage room.

"Oh baka it is just you…how is Sakura doing? I have wanted to see her but Hokage has strict orders on her visitors she doesn't want Sakura to be flooded with them. Still I wish I could see her, is she feeling better, how is her memory, has there been any improvement? "

Each time Naruto tired to speak Ino just began to ask another question. Ino would not let him get a word in. This scene caused a giggle to slip from Sakura lips.

Upon hearing the giggle Ino turned around to see Sakura standing in the shop, she dropped the flowers she was holding in her hand and brought her hands to her face.

"SAKURA…."

Ino ran over to her and threw her hands around her. Sakura stood awkward for a moment, before Ino pulled away.

"Oh I'm sorry how silly of me, I didn't mean to startle you, it is just I have been so worried, and to see you alright is…just a relief for me."

Sakura knew that this girl was a friend from her past, but she could not remember who she was.

"I-I'm sorry, I do not remember your name."

Ino turned around to face Naruto who gave her a slight nod; Ino nodded back and stuck out her hand.

My name is Ino."

Now Naruto knew if Ino and Sakura got to chatting it would cut away the whole day.

"Sorry Ino, got to catch up with her another time. "We are in a rush", he stated as he hopped off his chair.

"Hai, Hai I know", she replied. She walked behind the counter and pulled out a bouquet of flowers.

"This is for you Sakura."

Sakura smiled widely as she reached for the flowers, they looked so beautiful.

"Arigato Ino"

They said their goodbyes and Naruto and Sakura were on their way again. Naruto introduced Sakura to all her old friends. They met Neji and Tenten at the training grounds. They found Choji at the bar-b-que restaurant. They found Shikamaru playing chess. They bumped into Hinata and Kiba on their date, and Shino who was collecting bugs.

The whole day was an adventure for Sakura, she hoped it would help bring her memory back and even though it did not, she felt loved by all the people she met.

Naruto was about ready to take Sakura home when a voice could be heard growing in the distance.

"SAKURA-CHAN…SAKURA-CHAN!!"

Naruto could recognize that voice anywhere.

"Fuzzy eyebrows", he whispered to Sakura with a little laugh.

"Fuzzy eyebrows?" she repeated

Lee came to a jolting stop in front of her, he looked at her as she looked at him. He was well built and like Naruto had mentioned he had very fuzzy eyebrows. Her manners and instinct advised her not to call him fuzzy eyebrows however. They just stood silent for a moment.

"Sakura-chan."

"Yes, but I am sorry I do not remember your name."

Lee's eyes turned into puppy dog eyes as he looked at her.

"Don't worry Lee when I first met her, she tried to kill me.", Naruto whispered

"You we greatly missed, everyone was worried. We were scared. I was scared."

Sakura could hear the sincerity in his voice.

"My name is Lee."

She stood a moment before reaching over to hug Lee, and began pulling away.

"Thank you Lee for being so concerned", she stated as she pulled away.

Lee turned the darkest color red, turned around and ran straight back they way he came.

"She hugged me Sakura-chan hugged me!!"

Sakura turned back to Naruto, "I take it I haven't done that before to him, have I?"

Naruto shook his head in amusement, "No that would be a first."

After meeting their friends Naruto was again out of ideas. He looked over at Sakura who was scanning the area; something crossed his mind and gave him an idea about exactly where he wanted to take her.

"A cemetery?", Sakura asked

Naruto bobbed his head up and down, "Hai."

He pushed opened the gate and walked in, not sure if Sakura was following him. He turned around to see her standing by the opened gate.

"I know your scared, but trust me", Naruto said.

Sakura knew she was scared, but for some reason unknown to her she knew she could believe in what Naruto said, so she walked toward him.

"Why are we here?", she asked as she approached him

"To take a look at the past", he answered

He walked over to a section in the cemetery that had two beautiful graves. He encouraged Sakura to follow him, which she did.

"This is your mother and father's grave Sakura."

She looked at him carefully and then looked down at the graves. She placed the flowers that Ino had given her carefully in between them.

"What do I say?", she asked Naruto unsure if she said it out loud or in her mind.

"Say…say what your heart wants to say", he responded before walking away from her.

She looked back down at the graves, "Hello mother and father, I'm not sure if you can hear me, but…but I am having a hard time. I can't remember who I am, I can't remember who you are. I feel so lost."

Sakura could feel tears filling in her eyes

"I know it would be easier if I had you with me, but I know you are there, I feel the love of this village around me, I have such good friends who want the best for me."

She continued to speak until she stood up, and turned to Naruto. She had wiped away any signs of tears, but gave him a thankful smile for bringing her here.

She walked over to him and thanked him for bringing her here, as she turned to leave, she realized that Naruto had not moved from his spot.

"There is someone else we have to see."

The grave stone marking this person was enormous.

"This person must have been very important."

"He was…He was our third Hokage."

"A Hokage…I should have known."

"That isn't the only reason why I brought you here. He was an amazing Hokage Sakura, he loved his people like he would love his own children. He always had the best interest for his people. He loved his village and did all he could to protect it, he died protecting us. This is the reason we fight so hard, he gave us those values."

Sakura bowed her head in respect, she wished with all her might she could remember one little detail about this Hokage, but her mind could not do so.

They walked in silence toward Sakura's apartment.

The sun began to set behind the Great Hokage Mountain, as Naruto walked Sakura back to her apartment. The air was warm and it felt wonderful to feel the sun on her skin.

"I thought I was alone", she stated

Naruto looked at her as they walked

"I thought I had no one, when I was on the compound. I just thought that this is the way my life had always been. I never could have dreamed of any of this. All these people, my friends, I never would have dreamed that I was so…loved.

"You have always been loved Sakura….I always…", Naruto stated, but paused.

"I always…thought I was alone too. Like I had no one in the world, I guess that is why I am the way I am, hopeful or so I have been told. This seal, this demon always made me believe I was alone, but people like Kakashi-sensei, Sasuke, and you never let me feel it. You became my family, and I always vowed to protect my family from anything.", Naruto stated as he looked back toward the mountains

This time Sakura turned to face him, she never realized how much of a burden it must have been to be the child that everyone disliked. How people must have hurt him. But to have so much strength to move past the pain and not hate people, that was what made a true ninja.

"You have the makings of a Hokage", blurted Sakura.

Naruto eyes filled with hope that perhaps she remembered, but disappeared when Sakura asked if she said anything wrong.

Naruto just shook his head no and continued to walk her home. When they reached the door of her apartment it became apparent to Naruto that he was feeling a little funny.

"Well, I guess I will see you tomorrow, baa-chan is putting together something for us…well not us, former Team 7 to do together as a group", Naruto had no idea why he was blabbering so much. He took his hands and placed it behind his neck.

"I see, well thank you for…today. I really needed to get out there and try to live my old life. You helped me understand how much I was cared about. Thank you Naruto. "

They stood a moment longer before Naruto spoke up, "Well it's getting late, I better head home, if you need anything I am just up the street."

She shook her head in appreciation and entered her apartment shutting the door behind her. Naruto stood a moment longer just staring at the door before he disappeared in a flash.

He was exhausted from the long day, and his nights of sleeping weren't peacefully either. All he could think about was getting Sakura memory back, and what would happen after she got it back. Would she remember all the things that were happening now, Could he be able to tell her how he really felt about her. So many thoughts danced around his head. He almost didn't hear the knock on his door.

He jumped out the bed and made his way to the door.

"Sakura, is everything all right?", he stated as he opened the door. The look upon his face changed when he was greeted by a familiar face. He sighed heavily as he closed his eyes.

"I am NOT doing any research for you Peery-sage", he stated as he shook his head.


	7. Friendzy

**Sorry about the Late post, been a little busy. But I will try to update as soon as possible Please Please Review! **

**-Friend-zy -**

Sakura wasn't quite sure what the Hokage had planned for tomorrow but she was sure she needed plenty of rest. She lay down quietly on top of her bed. She looked around the colorful room at all the pictures.

She didn't feel comfortable; she just tossed and turned on the bed unable to find a good spot. It wasn't that she was uncomfortable with sleeping she soon realized it was the book under her pillow that made it hard. She pulled it out and her eyes filled with hope, by the looks of it, this book was her diary. All notion of sleep gone from her mind she sat upright in a hurry and opened the book.

The first page was full of scribbles. She giggled a little it was almost like she had a split personality. She saw little doodles of Team 7. Kakashi-sensei towered over the small three children, there were small heart eyes for herself and Sasuke and X's for Naruto's. She flipped to the next page, which was where she saw her first entry.

**Entry 1 **

_"I am so so happy!! We got put into teams today and I am finally close enough to Sasuke, where he might notice me. I brushed my hair extra long today, because I am sure he loves long hair. Everything would have been prefect if that baka Naruto wasn't placed in our team as well; he is going to be troublesome…hm where have I heard that word before "troublesome?" _

She scanned another few pages; most of these entries were about how much she "cared" for Sasuke. How good he looked, how he acted, how strong he was, it was like she was in love with him.

She held the book close to her chest for a moment.

"Was I in love with Sasuke?"

She closed the book and put it on her desk top. As she curled up on her bed, even though she was very tired she just laid awake looking out at the stars thinking about everything she had read.

She thought about Sasuke for a moment, she had to admit he wasn't talkative but he was very handsome. His features were sharp, and even though she had not seen him smile she knew it had to be a killer one. She let a smile escape her lips; maybe she could reconnect to her past through Sasuke.

She flipped to her side and let sleep capture her.

Sakura awoke to a loud knock on her door; she jumped slightly out of bed, but regained her composure as she realized where she was.

She looked at the clock which read 10: 45 a.m., which surprised her a bit since she was an early riser. Her eyes fell upon the diary which she had been reading the previous night, that was the cause of her late awakening.

The knock came once again this time a little bit harder. Sakura straightened her hair and grumbled a few words at the impatient knocker. She swung the door open wide only to find Naruto with a slight grin on his face.

He looked at her a moment and turned around to where his back was facing Sakura. Sakura's face turned from slight anger to strangely confused.

"Hahaha Sakura I see I caught you at a…surprised moment…", Naruto was stumbling over his words and raising his hands in the air as he talked.

"Naruto, I don't know what you are talking about I just woke up that's all, and why are you facing…"

A cold breeze flew in, and made Sakura realize what Naruto was talking about. She was still in her tiny nightgown. The short pink outfit was the reason Naruto was not looking directly at her. Not that he minded, but being a gentleman meant more than being like pervey-sage.

_'Pervey-sage would be so disappointed_.' thought Naruto has he heard the door slam shut.

He figured Sakura had realized why he had turn around so quickly. The thought made him blush slightly, sometimes Naruto was still just a big kid at heart.

Now it was Sakura turn to fumble around with her words…"I…uh didn't get much sleep…and it slipped my mind to….you know the robe…", she became silent after a moment.

"I'll be out in a few minutes."

After about twenty minutes Sakura emerged from her apartment, a little less embarrassed about Naruto seeing her. She opened the door expecting to see him there but was a bit surprised to see him gone. She figured he must have gotten tired of waiting and headed out to the Hokage's office like planned.

She made her way down the steps but paused as she heard laughter fill the air. Laughter she knew all too well, even with her memory loss. It was Naruto doing what Naruto does best.

There were a few kids huddled around him, it looked like he was telling a story. The children were so captivated by him, the admiration clear on their tiny faces. She quietly made her way over to where the children were seated.

"And so the brave ninja searched everywhere for the beautiful missing ninja, but she was nowhere to be found. "

The children put a small sad frown on their faces.

"Will the brave ninja save the beautiful missing ninja in time?, asked one of the eager children.

Now Sakura looked at her small face, which had a perplexed look, so Sakura didn't really think too much before she walked over to Naruto.

"The brave ninja fought long and hard and traveled far distances to bring back the missing ninja. After all his hard work and training he finally brought her home", Sakura stated with her hands clasped behind her back.

The children looked at her a moment and jumped up for joy. They were so happy about hearing about the brave ninja.

As they began to disperse a small boy who looked much younger than the rest screamed, " One day I will be the brave ninja saving the girl."

"Baka, your too small to save anyone", taunted a cute little girl

Naruto walked over to the little boy and bent down, "Never give up, you never know what you can do if you stop trying, no matter who taunts you."

Sakura walked over and bent down and gave the shy little boy a kiss, informing him that she would love to be saved by a boy with such courage. The little boy jumped away happily his faith in his abilities restored.

"A ninja by night a story teller by day?", Sakura giggled.

Naruto blushed slightly, "I didn't mean to put you on the spot."

Sakura waved her petite hand in the air, dismissing anything Naruto said. She actually enjoyed hearing the story. She broke into a laughing frenzy.

Naruto looked at Sakura as she laughed, her beautiful hair glowed in the sunlight and her hand covered her mouth as she held back some of the laughs. She looked beautiful to him, just perfect he just stood looking at her.

After she stopped laughing she looked at him a bit concerned that he had zoned out.

"Naruto, is everything all right?", she asked reaching out to touch his arm

Naruto just blushed deeper, "Ye-Yes I-I'm fine."

They began to walk toward the Hokage's office, both in silence.

Many of the girls had noticed Naruto's growth from a tiny child to a grown man. Naruto's features were undeniable. His beautiful blue eyes were like the ocean calm and collective, but fierce. Many of the girls played with their hair as Naruto walked by, who wasn't noticing very much.

"So Naruto the girl you are in love with, she wouldn't happen to be one of those girls who are batting there eyes at you right now?"

Naruto laughed, "No she is one of a kind, trust me."

They were running late, and as they entered the Hokage's office the meeting had already started. They hurried in as the Tsuande threw a glance at Naruto.

"Well what do you all think?", she concluded.

Sasuke and Kakashi nodded their heads in union, leaving Sakura and Naruto with blank stares.

Naruto kind of stood up and fiddled with his words, "I totally agree, it is the best idea I have heard."

Sasuke gave him a small smile, "And what idea would that be dobe?"

Naruto let out a nervous laugh, " The idea we just discussed."

Sasuke shook his head in amusement " Dobe, you don't even know what we talked about."

Naruto blushed, "So fill me in already." Sakura couldn't help but giggle at Naruto efforts.

"We have decided to throw a welcome back party for Sakura, which will be held on the Uchiha compound in one week." Tsuadne stated.

"We just thought it would be nice for Sakura."

Sakura's smile went from ear to ear, "A party for me?"

"Yes, and not just a small party, something elegant, so long as we don't have any problems with your health. I would like to see if this would help trigger anything in your memory, your head wound is healing wonderful."

Sakura nodded her head in disbelief did this really mean she could be getting her memory back.

After discussing some other small matters the group filed out of Tsuande's office.

Naruto let out a big sigh, he was very hungry and his tummy wouldn't let him forget it. His belly grumbled loudly as he held it with his hands as not to alert Sakura, who he was walking home.

She turned to look at him curiously as to what that noise had been, when she heard it again. She shook her head and asked if he wanted to eat something.

He looked at her; this would be the first time Sakura-chan ever asked him to eat. He nodded his head in disbelief.

"I also don't need my memory, to know exactly what you want to eat."

They took a seat on the cold stool as there order arrived. Naruto had no problem digging in, he loved ramen. Sakura just sat a moment looking at him, than she stuck her chopstick in the ramen and swirled it around.

As busy as Naruto was he noticed the look on Sakura's face, he placed his chopsticks down and turned to her concerned.

"Is everything alright Sakura-chan?"

"Hai….", she responded softly.

There was a moment of silence until she spoke up again.

"I found my old diary yesterday, I read through it well through the first part of it at least."

"Isn't that good, it may help you get your memory back?"

"Do you think I should try to do the things I used to do, to get my memory back?"

"Well I am not a doctor or as smart about these things as baa-chan, but I think it is a good idea…why wouldn't it be right? I say go for it what is the worst that could happen? "

"Right, your right Naruto, I should try to live my life the way I did before, I should try to have the things I had before I lost my memory.

"Right, see thats the Sakura-chan I know and…", Naruto started but was caught off as Sakura began to speak.

"I will get Sasuke to fall in love with me." - -

**Muhahaha Dont you just love drama?**


	8. All Convinced

Thank you for the reviews! Please Read and review the more reviews the more I feel like I wanna write.  
HellsPastry - Thank you, the drama is just starting  
Cecixx19- True about Sakura but I'll fix it, and way more Naru/Saku moments soon  
SilentAdaon- I know I gotta make Sakura look smart again = ) thx for still reading though  
NarutoRocks21113043- Thank you Glad you like it!  
Hawkgirl90 – I know, poor Naruto but we still love him!  
uzukun7- way more Naruto chased by girls on the way = )

**Chapter Title -All Convinced -**

The walk home was quiet; Naruto was lost in his own thoughts about what Sakura had said to him.

No matter what he thought all he knew was Sakura really wanted to be with Sasuke and no matter how much he tired to show or tell her his feelings it would never work.

"I don't know, or at least don't remember the important things about Sasuke, what is he like Naruto? He is so mysterious around me."

Naruto pushed all the current thoughts from his mind. Sure it wasn't his plan to get the girl he loves to fall in love with his best friend all over again, but was he going to ruin her chances…Never that just wasn't him.

"How was he toward me?", she asked again

Naruto looked at her, her eyes were beaming with joy as she asked him the question.

He knew he didn't want to but the words just flew out of his mouth one by one.

"He was great, I could tell he really cared for you."

Naruto figured he would just take his feelings and use them for Sasuke.

She beamed at Naruto's answer, "What do you think he liked about me the most?"

Naruto looked at her with a small smile, "I am sure he loved your radiant smile the most."

"Do you think he still cares about me, he seems so distant."

"He was very upset about losing you, he blamed himself, I don't think he ever let go of that."

The wind began to pick up as Sakura clutched her shoulders to shield herself from the cold. Naruto in a hurry took off his warm pull over and placed it on Sakura's shoulders.

She eagerly placed her hands into the sleeves as Naruto zipped it up.

She looked at him a moment before speaking, "Thank you Naruto, you are the greatest friend. You always take care of me; there aren't any words to describe how much I care about you."

He smiled at her.

"The girl you are in love with is so lucky to have you in her life. When do I get to meet the lucky lady?"

Naruto turned his gaze away from her, to watch the sun begin to dip behind the horizon.

He began to fumble with his words as he tired to come up with a good excuse. She looked at him tenderly; waiting for an answer, Naruto couldn't help it.

"Well of course at your Welcome home party next week, she will be coming than…"

Sakura's eyes widened, "Oh this will truly be wonderful I will ask Sasuke to escort me."

"As they rounded the corner Naruto saw Sakura's apartment in site.

"Well till tomorrow than", he stated

Sakura walked up the steps and disappeared behind the door, but not before giving Naruto a small smile and big wave.

Now instead of making his way up the street to his apartment, he turned around and headed a different direction.

He walked slowly, not in a big rush to get there. The sky was a beautiful orange as the last rays of the sun were disappearing.

Naruto found it no surprise that when he passed a bench he found his former sensei reading peacefully.

"You think that one is good Kakashi-sensei, what till you see what he is coming out with next."

Kakashi's eyebrow rose with curiosity as he motioned Naruto to sit. Naruto without hesitation sat quietly next to Kakashi.

"Something, on your mind?", Kakashi questioned.

"No…yes. Sakura." He managed to get out.

"Ah, women, the closest I try to get to them is in these books. They can be quite deadly to a man's health."

Naruto snorted slightly, narrowing his eyes and shaking his head. Kakashi also gave a soft laugh.

"Unless Sakura went back to hitting the sense out of you, you are headed in the wrong direction", Kakashi stated.

"No I am on the way to…."

"Naruto…" Kakashi interoperated.

"Sometimes the mind makes the heart do crazy things. You never know what the heart really wants until you let it speak for itself."

Naruto looked baffled as Kakashi finished speaking, "Wow, Kakashi-sensei I never knew you were so deep about such matters."

"Oh hahaha, I was just reading out loud from the book."

Naruto fell off the bench. _'I should have known.'_

He collected himself, said his dismal goodbyes and headed toward his destination. Kakashi only looked on till he was out of sight, relieving a deep sigh. He truly worried about his former students sometimes, than again he had similar problems with his former teammates as well.

"Is he going to be alright if she…", came a familiar voice from behind him.

Kakashi only deepened his sigh, "I wish people would stop asking me that, he stated as he raised the book back up to eye level again.

"If you like that one, wait till the new one I have comes out, I did some extensive research for it."

This caused Kakashi's eyebrow to arch again as he lowered his book, "So I've heard…"

Almost all the day light was gone now as Naruto strolled in through the main gates of the Uchihia compound. Upon Sasuke's return he converted the deserted compound into many training facilities, which were put to good use by the leaf village. Sasuke's overall personality had changed a great deal from the academy years, but Naruto and Sasuke still kept up with their rivalry, they say some things never change. Naruto would have headed straight for the main house if he did not know his best friend so well. He walked toward the training facility. He heard the sound of a kunai hitting against something when he finally stumbled upon Sasuke.

"Hey dobe here so late, come to train?", Sasuke asked as he walked over and yanked the sharp kunai out of the training log.

"No, I stopped by for…other reasons Sasuke."

This caught Sasuke off guard, he and Naruto usually trained and left all the mushiness to Sakura, but by the look on Naruto's face something was bothering him, and that bothered Sasuke.

"What is it, is everything all right, is Sakura alright?", Sasuke asked a bit more concerned.

Sasuke knew he did not open up well to others, but these were his friends, his best friends. They never gave up on him, and deep down he also would never gave up on them. He had learned over the years that the bonds of friendship are never broken.

"No it is nothing like that everything is fine, Sakura is alright", Naruto responded shielding his broken heart behind a warm smile

"I actually came over to talk about Sakura's party."

Now Sasuke gave Naruto an odd glance unsure if he fully understood, "You walked all the way over here from your apartment to talk about Sakura's party.

He let out a weary sigh, "Sometimes I worry about you dobe", he stated as he grabbed some water and raised the bottle in the air to relinquish his thirst. The water burned as it flowed down. He placed it down and looked back toward Naruto waiting for him to speak.

Naruto remained silent, more out of fear of saying what he had to say, considering his feelings for Sakura.

"Sakura wants you to escort her to the party", he said softly

Now Sasuke stopped and turned to completely face Naruto forgetting that he was in the middle of training. He thought he must have misheard what Naruto had said.

"What did you say?", he asked again

"Sakura wants you to escort her…and she falling in love with you…again", he blurted out quickly more for the sake of hiding any pain that could be detected in his voice.

"Naruto…", Sasuke replied a hint of confusion in his voice.

"No Sasuke she wants to be with you, this may help get her memory back." As painful as it was Naruto already had a plan all thought out, years of begin an elite ninja will do that to you.

"But you….have always, Naruto", Sasuke's confusion turned to anger. What did Naruto think Sasuke was going to do, take Sakura away from him? Anything and everything Naruto had done, he had always done for Sakura. Even his determination to bring Sasuke home was fueled by a promise made to the cherry blossom. Did Naruto really think Sasuke was fooled about how he really felt about Sakura. Sasuke would never take that away from Naruto, never.

"Tell her the truth Naruto!", he yelled angrily at Naruto

"No."

"What do you mean No, tell her the way you feel about her or I will. Tell her how much you…"

"What Sasuke, how much I love her? How I have always loved her from the first day of academy, till the very moment I just dropped her off to her apartment 20 minutes ago. Do I tell her hey Sakura, all that stuff in the diary you wrote about Sasuke, just forget, just forget him and fall in love with me. It is you that she wants, and…and well Sasuke it is you she will get. That's my pro…"

"Stop it Naruto, stop making promises like that, I won't do it, I won't love Sakura like that, not the way you love her Naruto.

Naruto knew that Sasuke would resist this, he knew Sasuke always knew how he truly felt about Sakura, and he wouldn't go along with stealing Sakura away. Sasuke was his brother, his best friend, but right now Naruto needed Sasuke to forget that.

Naruto's face softened as we brought a kind smile to his face, "She is so lost Sasuke, she clings to that diary for remembrance of her past. You are in that diary as her white knight, that doesn't change even if she forget everything, she knows she loves you. This could get her memory back Sasuke, something she wants more than the air she breathes. Don't you want to help her get her memory back…the one that was stolen from her during the mission", Naruto hated saying the last part but he knew that hit Sasuke hard in his heart.

Sasuke turned his back to Naruto unable to find words to say to him. He searched for something in his mind and then he thought of Sakura. He thought of all those times she had flirted with him when they were younger, and how no matter what happened Naruto was there for her. What he was doing right now, by giving her up was for Sakura. He hated how Naruto had used Sakura's memory against him.

When he turned around to face Naruto he was gone, knowing for sure that Sasuke would not let him down.

When Naruto arrived home he crashed on his bed, he placed his arms comfortably under his head and looked out toward the sky. He just reflected on the day as he looked aimseely at the shining stars. He had convinced Sasuke to be with Sakura, Sakura was convinced Sasuke was in love with her, and Sakura convinced Naruto to bring the girl he loved to her party.

A girl who was no one other than Sakura, he had to come up with some kind of plan to get around it, and just skipping her party was not a good enough answer. At times like this he really wished he had a brain like Shikamaru. He shut his eyes in frustration, failing to see the gleaming shining star swing across the dark sky.

He thought about something for a moment, and shook his head. He laughed a little after his thought he knew better than anyone wishing for something didn't make it come true he sighed deeply as he flipped onto his side and tried to sleep.

Across the village, Tsuande was leaving her office when a slight breeze blew at her balcony. She froze a moment, before she continued to stack her papers.

"They told me you were not going to be here for another week.", Tsuande stated to what seemed to be an empty room.

"I just felt like coming early, I really don't know why…"

"So I do suppose you have a name?", Tsuande asked

Footsteps could be heard approaching Tsuande from behind.

"And do you always make a grand entrance?", Tsuande questioned

The unknown ninja merrily laughed, " I am Mayuko Kasumi from the Hidden village of the Mist…and yes I do."

= ) please review and stay tuned!


	9. Used To

Please read and review!

Chapter Title : Used To

Mayuko took a sit in the chair across from Tsunade. Who seemed to have a displeased smirk across her face. She was finally done for the day, and furthermore out of sake, and now she did not want to be stuck for hours. But she knew Mayuko was a visiting ambassador from the Village of the Mist, and being rude was out of the question. She folded her arms casually and leaned back in her comfy chair.

"As you know the girl…", Mayuko began

"Sakura", Tsunade cut in, not meaning to be rude but the apparent annoyance of Mayuko's reference to "that girl".

"Yes… Sakura, she was being held captive on an abandoned training ground. It was built some time ago and was not even located on our maps. We do not know how you got a hold of this classified information, but after your team went in and rescued her, we did a thorough search of the compound."

All the tiredness that was present in Tsunade's eyes vanished as Mayuko continued to speak.

"It looks like the people that were holding her captive, were also holding others."

Tsunade closed her eyes unsure of what all of this meant, "How bad was it…?"

Mayuko stood from her seat and turned her back to Tsunade; she strolled over to the window and looked out to the dark sky. Her eyes wondered until she set it firmly upon the moon.

"Sakura was lucky. Some of the others did not make it out alive, others well others had a far worse condition. Sakura had not been tested on.

"Tested on?…", Tsunade managed to say.

"These rouge ninja were using the captives for experiments, some of them went horrible wrong, others were successful to some extent. Sakura was able to get away; she could have run home, she was not injured at the time she had escaped. However I suppose her heart could not let her leave all those people behind. She was able to help others escape but was injured terribly in doing so. This is probably what triggered her memory loss."

Now it was Tsunade's turn to rise from her seat, "How do you know that, how do you know any of this information?", she questioned.

Mayuko turned to face Tsunade again, "Unlike Sakura, my sister was tested on…and the experiment was successful."

Tsunade only stood speechless. She was unaware that these rouge ninja were testing on their own people. It sent a chill down her spine reminding her of a certain teammate who had done the same.

"What types of experiments were conducted on the captives?" Tsunade asked.

"Most of the experiments were mutations and trying to harness a vast majority of chakra, most of the time they back fired and caused the patient to die painfully."

Tsunade sat back down in disbelief, such horrific things being done to innocent people. Mayuko's voice brought her back from her thoughts.

"My sister's experiment when terribly wrong, they wanted to enhance her vision, speed, and strength like that of a feline, unaware that it would change her into a cat itself. They threw her away finding no use for a simple cat. Only after your men had saved Sakura did we get information of the location.

"How did you find out about all of this if your sister…"

"We were able to reverse some of the damage, she was the one that told me it was your people that saved Sakura, and she was able to recognize the sign on one of your men's forehead protectors. She mentioned a man, a man with blonde hair and blue eyes who almost killed her, but in return showed her compassion."

Tsunade let a small smile creep to her lips; she knew it was none other than Naruto. By the looks on Tsunade's face Mayuko could tell she knew exactly who she was talking about.

"I would like to meet him."

The bright sun awoke Naruto; he walked over and closed the blinds to shade away the beaming sun. He casually hopped back into bed. He had gotten little sleep last night and was in no mood to be disturbed even by the joyful sun. A hard knock came upon the door, but Naruto was in no mood to see anyone, especially Sakura. The knock came a few more times before it stopped allowing Naruto to close his eyes in peace.

Sasuke was making his way over to Sakura's apartment, he had fought with the idea of telling her the truth about Naruto, but deep down knew he couldn't speak his best friend's feelings to the girl he loved. Sasuke had always loved Sakura, but not the same way Naruto had loved her. It was amazing what kind power Naruto had when he thought of Sakura, he knew Naruto was going through a lot, but he would do anything to see Sakura happy.

"Sasuke-kun…"

Sasuke looked straight ahead of him to see Sakura standing before him. He was so caught up in his thoughts he would have bumped into her if she did not call out his name. He became a bit alarmed as he moved back.

"Oh Sakura-chan I didn't see you there", he managed to get out.

He looked at her, but the expression on her face was strained, as if fighting with herself to speak.

"Is everything alright Sakura you look a little…"

"Will you walk with me Sasuke?", she cut in.

Sasuke merely nodded his head.

"I finished reading my diary yesterday; I never knew things were so hard when we were children. It seemed so easy in the beginning but life never just stays simple.

A moment of silence passed as Sakura and Sasuke turned the corner, it was than Sasuke realized where Sakura had brought him. It was the same place she had tried to stop him all those years ago, when he sought out Orochimaru.

"Would things have been different if I had stopped you?", she asked him

He looked up toward the swaying tree branches, "What I did than was foolish Sakura, and even if you had stopped me I don't think it would have been enough."

"I need you to help me remember who I was Sasuke, I feel lost, but when I look at you I know I can find the truth. I don't know what it is, but I know you have it.

Sasuke simply stood, listening to Sakura. He was still thinking about a way to fix this for Naruto and Sakura, they belonged together and he knew it. But Sakura losing her memory had bugged Sasuke for months, and Naruto knew this, and he used it against Sasuke.

"After reading my diary, after realizing why I feel the way I do, it all makes sense to me."

He smiled at her the guilt in his heart dying about what happened to her, but growing about what Naruto did.

"Naruto has helped me realize I need to fight to get my memory back, and that is just what I will do…with you", she stated.

Sasuke's smile faded again thinking of his best friend.

Naruto was sitting on the stool at the Ramen shop waiting for his order to be taken.

"Hey Naruto, you look kind of down today…is something wrong?" asked Ichiraku the ramen shop owner.

Naruto simply responded, "No just a little under the weather, nothing to worry about old man."

"Well I know what is going to help cure that up.", he generously placed a big bowl of hot Ramen under Naruto's face.

"This one is on the house", he responded cheerful.

Naruto gave him a warm smile and thanked him kindly. The ramen was the best he had ever tasted, but it still did not help soothe the emptiness he felt inside. He thanked the old man and was on his way. He was stopped hastily by and ANBU member who informed him Tsunade wanted to see him in her office immediately.

He nodded his head and headed off toward baa-chan's office unsure of what he had down this time.

Naruto wasn't one for knocking so it was no surprise when he barged into Tsunade's office, "Look granny I didn't do anything this time, and if you found out about…", he cut himself short when he noticed a tall thin-built woman in the middle of the office.

"Oh, I thought you wanted to see me, I didn't mean to…"

"I did.", Mayuko answered

Now Naruto gave her a bewildered look, "Do we know each other?"

Mayuko slipped a powerful smile across her face, "We will."

Naruto took in her features she had dark purple long hair and her eyes were a deep onyx black, almost like Sasuke's, but the aura she gave out was nothing less than amazing. She was a powerful ninja, Naruto could simply feel it.

"My name is Mayuko, Naruto."

Naruto merely shook his head and turned for an explanation to Tsunade, who motioned him to sit.

As Mayuko finished explaining Naruto simply sat shaking his head, he was feeling a great deal of emotions, fear for Sakura, compassion for the others, and anger toward the rouge ninja.

"If I had known… there were others there…I would have done more.", he stated quietly

Mayuko turned her head to his figure she could see the disappointment in Naruto's eyes for those who had died or left behind.

"Mayuko?", Tsunade stated

"Huh..yes.", Mayuko managed as she turned to face the fifth Hokage.

"Naruto can escort you around the village, while you are visiting our village, I am sure he wouldn't mind", replied Tsunade.

Naruto gave Tsunade a sour face as he did not want to get stuck on a history tour, but she returned his look with one of her own scary facial expressions.

Naruto turned to Mayuko, "Apparently I am at your disposal", he announced.

Mayuko had no idea why but she instantly grew fond of the blonde, true she was not that interested in catching the attention of men because her work came first, but there was something so plainly interesting about him. Mayuko bowed her head in respect to his invitation, which caused Naruto to lighten his facial expression.

The two made their way out of the office and out into the beautiful village.

"I never dreamed that the Hidden Village of the Leaf was so beautiful", replied Mayuko

"Yeah we do pride ourselves in our people they are what make this village so wonderful. Every village can have wonderful sites, but the people are what makes the difference here", Naruto beamed as he replied.

Mayuko turned her head to face Naruto as he walked; he had his eyes closed and a slight smile across his lips about the answer he gave her. Mayuko was used to men begging her to go on dates and making a move on her, but Naruto seemed so different so carefree and happy with his life.

"Mayuko…Mayuko?", Naruto called out to her as he stopped for a moment.

Mayuko snapped out of her daydream like state and turned her face away from Naruto blushing slightly. Naruto let out a sigh of relief; he thought he had said something that offended her.

"Is everything all right, you look a little red are you getting sick?", Naruto asked concerned

This only caused Mayuko to blush a little more.

Naruto took Mayuko all around the village; he took her to the training ground, the Hokage Mountain, he showed her the academy and took her to the ramen shop. Mayuko was having a great time, she couldn't even remember when was the last time she had just let loose and had a little fun. They were heading out of the ramen shop when a little kid came up to Naruto and handed him a flyer. Naruto thanked him and read the flyer out loud.

"Cherry Blossom fair begins in two days, don't forget to attend or you will be sorry."

_'Cherry Blossom…_', thought Naruto

Naruto walked Mayuko to the steps of her temporary apartment. He noticed that he had not thought about Sakura all day, which in a way was good and bad. He then quickly wondered what she had done all day since they hadn't hanged out. He also wondered about her memory, and if she had regained any of it.

Now it was Mayuko's turn to wave her hand in front of Naruto's face, "Naruto, are you there?"

He shook Sakura from his thoughts; a small smile found its way to his face, "Yes, I am fine, just got lost in my thoughts."

"Naruto…", asked Mayuko a hint of remorse in her voice.

"Are you really the container of the nine tails?", she asked

Naruto looked a little surprised by her direct question, "Yes…yes I am I am the holder of the Kyubi, the most notorious bijju in the ninja world", he said sarcastically

"I'm sorry it was a little rude of me to ask like that…"

"No it's alright, I know it was just curiosity, right?", his facial expression turned to a funny one.

"It must have been hard...", she added

Naruto only shook his head.

"Well thank you for the history lesson, perhaps we can do it again sometime before I leave?", she added

Naruto shook his head not completely catching the full intent in Mayuko's voice, "Oh sure it was fun of course we can do it again."

He turned and left her standing on the steps with a crimson red blush across her cheek.

"Naruto...", she stated before he was out of sight.

Mayuko had never asked a boy out on a date.

"How about the Cherry Blossom festival, I would like to go to that."

He thought a moment and shook his head, "I didn't think I would go, but sure why not, there will be tons of Ramen after all", he said rubbing his neck which caused a few laughs from Mayuko. He disappeared into the night before she could say anything else.

When Naruto got to the steps of his apartment, he was very surprised to see Sakura sitting there. She looked fascinated as she glanced up toward the sky. Naruto sighed slightly as he approached her.

"Sakura? What are you doing here so late?", he questioned

"Oh Naruto where have you been I have been dying to tell you how my day with Sasuke went. We spent the whole day together, I stopped by this morning but you were not home."

"Yeah I had a lot on my mind, I headed out early", he responded he hated lying to her but he did not want her to know how much pain he was in.

"It was a nice day, we talked about the village and the past, and he took me to see the cherry blossoms. You came up a lot."

Naruto shook his head with a small smile, "I did? All bad I am sure."

"No, Sasuke praised you, he told me how you have always been the greatest best friend he ever had, and how you brought him home."

Sakura turned up to look at the sky again, "You know Naruto, we are good together…"

Naruto felt the air in his lungs disappear as a rough cough came out of his throat, "Wh-what?"

Sakura smiled at him, "We are best friends and that makes me feel good, it makes me feel at home, even without my memory.

There was a moment of silence, as Sakura stood to her feet, " I had to come see you, sorry you look a little tired…had a busy day?

He just shook his head as she grabbed the rail and headed off toward her apartment, "I'll see you.", she stated. He waved her off before she was gone.

Just at that moment Jiarya came running by and tossed Naruto a telescope, "A good student always takes the fall for his master." he stated as he rushed by. Just than a group of women came running around the corner.

"That's the creep who is using the telescope to peek into the girl's hot spring."

Naruto mentally cursed himself for thinking things couldn't get worse as he ran behind Jiarya.


	10. Little bit of Love

Please Review guys! (sweat drop)

Chapter Title : Little bit of Love

"No, No a little to the left"

Naruto rolled around in his bed a bit displeased with the unexpected racket. He opened his eyes slightly to look around his room, it looked like a mini tornado had passed through by the look of things been tossed around aimlessly

"Watch it; watch it we don't want it to break…"

Naruto stood up and looked out his large window, his vision was a tad blurred but he suddenly saw a line of cherry blossoms down the main road and a great deal of decorations going up. He moved his eyes to the clock which read 11:26 a.m. You would think he would feel re-energized after such a long sleep, but that wasn't the case for Naruto.

He cleaned himself up, and was out the door in the matter of minutes.

"Oh Naruto, can you give me a hand over here."

Naruto made his way over to an elderly couple, who were trying to hang up some decorations. He greeted them kindheartedly as he rolled up his sleeves and began to help hang the bright red paper lanterns.

"You brining Sakura to the festival tonight?", asked the sweet old lady, she positioned a wide smile across her face, the wrinkles on her face multiplying as she did.

Naruto plainly shook his head, "No Oba-san"

"Oh Naruto, you should truly tell that sweet girl how much you like her before she slips out of your fingers", she teased pinching his cheeks playfully.

The old man whispered into his ears serenely, "She is a keeper, you can't wait around forever boy"

Naruto finished as swiftly as he could before the urge over took him to rush out of the village. He took a leisurely walk near the pond as he found a cozy seat near the water. He spent most of the day lying in the grass. He liked as the cold wind rushed to his face, his blonde hair tickled the top portion of his forehead as it swayed. He closed his eyes, not meaning to fall asleep but just breathe in the fresh air.

Almost an hour went by in peace however something soft fell upon his face that caused his eyes to blink open promptly. He sat up gradually from his position somewhat upset about being disturbed to notice a cherry blossom petal stuck to the side of his cheek. He plucked it off gently and looked at it. It was an exceptionally petite petal, just a touch of light pink.

"If this is theoretical supposed to be a sign, you could have done a lot little better", he stated out loud sarcastically not actually speaking to anyone in particular.

He threw the petal out-of-the-way and laid back down on his back, a few minutes passed and all seemed moderately quiet again. He shifted a little when once more he felt something soft fall on his face, but this time it was more than one time he felt something fall again and again he just laid there with his eyes closed. A soft wind blew and he opened his eyes slowly not rising from his current position.

There falling by the hundreds were cherry blossom petals, the sight in plain terms was the most striking thing Naruto had ever seen, well the second most striking thing he had ever seen. He stood up and the petals just kept falling. He closed his eyes firmly, what was he thinking that just because all these blossoms where falling that it was actually a sign. Things happen for a reason he believed that, but he also understood that Sakura wanted to be with Sasuke, no matter how much Naruto wanted to be with Sakura he would never take that away from her.

He looked up as the final few petals could be seen falling. He walked away, not turning his head once to look back. As Naruto departed out of the forest, Sasuke could be seen jumping from out of the tree a lavishing smirk rose to his face.

"How's that for a sign Naruto?"

Naruto entered his apartment again, stopping only to look at a note that was written for him by the door

_Stopped by and missed you again, Come see me when you get the chance.!_

_your best friend, _

_Sakura _

He pushed open his door and settled onto the messy couch, the clock read 4:52pm. He knew he had something to do, something that wasn't coming into this memory. The letter crumbled easily under his fingers as he applied pressure to the thin note. Upon being satisfied with its roundness he aimed for the trash can which he effortlessly missed. A grouchy expression landed on his face as he stood to toss the letter away, when even more racket could be heard from the main street. It looked like everything was about done being set up for the festival, and people had already begun to arrive.

"_Wish I was going_…', thought Naruto tiredly.

'_Wait a minute…I SHOULD be going..' _

It became almost all too apparent that Naruto had undeniably told Mayuko he would take her to the enchanting festival. Also looking at the clock strike four minutes past five did not help the fact that he told her to be ready by five.

"Kasa", he cursed solely under his breath, because Naruto knew there was nothing worse than a women's wrath, especially the women he was accustom too.

He found himself in front of Mayuko's door at 5:30pm. He knocked frivolously hoping she would not be terribly upset with him. Naruto didn't need the Hokage coming down on him for offended the ambassador of another village. When she finally opened the door he found a warm smile upon her elegant face, instead of a beating like he expected.

Mayuko was dressed in a dark purple Kimono with light jewelry, she never liked to dress up, but the festival would be a big deal, and she wanted to look extra appealing. Naruto was amazed to see her in a kimono. He commented on how she looked very lovely and how he was a totally jerk for being late.

"I expected it.", she commented not allowing much emotion to show.

"So what, you knew I would be late?", he asked arching his thin eyebrow upwards

"I knew you would fail to remember, you seem like the forgetful type."

Naruto cheeks allowed a chrisom red to appear knowing Mayuko wasn't entirely off base with her remark.

As they arrived to the main street, Mayuko looked astounded by the exquisiteness.

"Oh my, I have never seen a festival as stunning as this one; we don't have a cherry blossom festivals back home.

"We are simply at the entrance you haven't even seen the entire thing yet", Naruto laughed.

"Oi Naruto", came a low shout.

Naruto turned himself to the noise to find Ino and Shikamura headed toward him.

"Shocked to find you here Shikamura", stated Naruto

"I wasn't left with much of a option…", he snidely commented

Ino vigorously slapped his forearm, "I didn't force you. Shika"

Naruto thought it would be proper to introduce Mayuko, when Shikamaru cut in. "We have all been introduced to Mayuko by Tsunade, you would have known if you would have attended the meeting today.", Naruto gave a few brisk blinks trying to come up with a good excuse to baa-chan for missing the meeting.

"Don't be concerned Naruto you weren't the only one who didn't show up, the Hokage-sama won't execute you."

Naruto loosened a little knowing he wasn't the only ninja to flake out on baa-chan's orders.

"Well we would love to chat, but Shikamaru promised to win me a prize", replied Ino who pulled on his hand as she began to walk in the direction of games. Shikamaru who was usually tranquil and collective allowed a trifling blush to rise to his face, knowing Ino was pulling on his hand.

Shikamaru said his farewells and headed off, not wanting the mind reader to read his thoughts at the very moment. Next to meet Naruto was Neji, who had a stern look etched across his almost pale face.

"Neji, is something wrong?", asked Naruto a bit concerned for his comrade.

"Oh Naruto, he is all right, he is just a tiny bit mad that I beat him in a game. I ended up giving him a teddy bear, and not the other way around", replied Tenten gleefully

Naruto's warm laugh filled the air, he grabbed his stomach to stop the pain, "HAHAHA you let Tenten hahaha beat you…", he stopped instantaneously when Neji flashed him his legendary Byukagan eyes.

He ceased his laughing and rushed Mayuko along. All in all they were having a fantastic time, the festival was a great way to get his mind of… "Sakura", he whispered quietly.

Naruto looked at her from afar; she was wearing a dark black kimono with cherry blossom petals painted all around. Her hair was up and had two chopsticks sticking out that were holding it all up. She had on no make-up just her natural beauty that shown brighter than the sun. Everyone stopped to greet her as she made her way by. Sasuke could be seen straggling behind her hand in his pocket as he greeted his friends.

"Naruto", she squealed as she made her way over.

Naruto shook his head and greeted her like he always did, "Hi Sakura, you look quite lovely."

She giggled slightly and whispered into his ear, "Do you suppose Sasuke likes it?"

Naruto merely nodded his head in agreement. Sasuke made his way over and greeted Naruto.

"Hey Dobe, I am surprised you are here."

"Yeah I know actually I came with…"

Sakura cut in between the man, she stepped close to Naruto and looked at him for a brief moment. It was so strange, her eyes drifted to the top part of Naruto's head. She giggled somewhat, placing her hand over her mouth.

"Baka", she whispered gently, the apparent look of amused painted across her face.

To Naruto it sounded just the way she used to say it, when he did something amusing. He just kept looking at her uncertain of what he had done.

Sakura begin to raise her hand towards Naruto's face. Naruto felt a lump get caught in his throat, for a second he contemplated weather she was going to slap him, but her hand rose past his face and tenderly brushed his blonde hair. When her hand began to retract she showed him what she had.

In the palm of her hands lay a single pink cherry blossom petal. Naruto's eyes widened at the small petal, he reached out to grab it when Sakura pulled her hand back playfully. Sasuke merly watched the two a moment allowing that devilish Uchiha grin to widen across his delicate face.

Naruto paused as he thought a moment, until realized he had left Mayuko standing there…

"I came with my date...", he responded pushing the small cherry blossom petal from his mind, throwing the statement out of his now dry mouth.

"Date…what date?", Sasuke responded uncertainty in his voice.

Mayuko emerged from behind Naruto.

"Date", Mayuko repeated. She knew her cheeks were burning perhaps meaning they were turning red.

"You brought a date, what about Sa…", Sasuke began

But Naruto cut through his sentence mid way nervously, "Ha Ha SAI went on a mission therefore he couldn't make it."

"I went on a mission?", replied Sai standing in front of Naruto. Naruto jumped back a little when Sai's hand rested on his shoulder.

'_Kasa, he has to show up precisely at this moment, doesn't he'_, thought Naruto bitterly

"Oi Sai, where have you been, I was just telling Sasuke here I was on a date…and he", Naruto began however it was Sai's turn to cut in.

"You are on a date, must be with Sa…"

Naruto jumped in once more, "IS everyone trying to kill me?"

Sai smiled not understanding the sarcasm in Naruto voice, "I would never try to kill you Naruto, you are my friend."

Naruto brought his hand to his face to rub in between his eyes, "Never mind Sai…"

Sasuke had heard enough as he grabbed Naruto into a headlock and dragged him off, he called back to Mayuko, Sai and Sakura who were left with blank stares, "We'll be right back."

Naruto was struggling to break free, but Sasuke had a rigid grasp around his neck, he dragged him near a corner and let go so Naruto could stand up straight once more. He looked down at Naruto who was still bent over.

"What's the issue dobe, stand up straight…"

He also bent down to look at Naruto's face, who abruptly jumped up at trapped Sasuke in the same headlock.

"Ha ha, not so humorous now is it", Naruto stated in amusement.

Sasuke struggled vaguely to get free, after a few futile attempts he answered Naruto, "Alright, alright are we gonna try to get each other in headlocks all night or are we gonna talk."

"I prefer the headlock", Naruto answered

Sasuke tugged one more time as Naruto finally let him go. Naruto looked at him with a smirk that vanished as promptly as it had come.

"What are you doing…?", Sasuke asked apparently infuriated.

Naruto stuck his hands in his pocket, "Getting into a headlock competition with you, Acting like a little kid with my best friend what does it…"

Sasuke cut in, "When are you gonna grow up Naruto, when are you going to recognize this is hurting everyone."

Naruto became silent, Sasuke and he by no means really talked like this, they joked and fought and fought and joked, never any serious talk between the two, not since the days from the time when Sasuke had been missing.

"I am doing what is right Sasuke."

Sasuke let out a little grunt, "For who Naruto, for Sakura? Not telling her the truth is that what is right these days?"

Naruto looked inherently at Sasuke, he was his best friend, his brother although not by blood but through the bonds that he had built with him.

Sakura needed Naruto, but Naruto knew she needed him as a friend, no matter how much his heart desired her.

He paused a moment as he saw Sakura approaching them from behind Sasuke. Sasuke too caught up in their disagreement to sense her, did not distinguish as she pulled alongside him inaudibly. Naruto looked profoundly into her eyes and then glanced back at Sasuke, who had by then realized Sakura was behind him.

"Sakura I'm relieved you're here, Naruto has something he wants to tell you.", Sasuke declared a little annoyance buried behind his words." He eyed Naruto allowing his onyx eyes to blaze into an instant red with little patience.

Than a thought crossed Naruto's mind, a thought that he entirely did not understand, but it was a idea that would save him from the misery of not having Sakura, and the misery of Sasuke trying to ask Naruto to pursue her when he couldn't.

Naruto tranquilly opened his mouth and let the words just spill out and what he said stunned him more than it could have ever stunned Sasuke and Sakura.

"I am in love with Mayuko…"

A/N: oh yes, another twist in the plot, don't hate me okay, but I gotta add some drama...hehehe stay tuned and please review after you read...! thanks


	11. The Loving Kind

Sorry for the late post, I hope everyone is having a Happy Thanksgiving! Please review after reading, now I gotta go brainstorm some ideas! Thanks guys take care.

Chapter Title: **The Loving Kind**

In love….with Mayuko?", Sasuke repeated a mix of confusion and anger strung in his voice. He knew much better and wasn't going to believe Naruto for a moment.

Sakura glanced speechless from Naruto and Sasuke; she could immediately tell by Sasuke's fluttered reaction that he did not know that Naruto had being harboring a secret love. She assumed he was rather upset because Naruto had not told his best friend about his feelings.

"Boys will be boys...", she sighed shaking her head as the thought left her mind. Sakura however had a completely different reaction to Naruto news. She walked over and threw her delicate arms around Naruto's neck excitingly, she was nearly off the ground as her arms wrapped around.

"Oh Naruto I am so happy for you", Sakura stated quite happily. Her warm cheek pressed against his chin, as she almost tripped into his body because of her binding kimono

"I am so happy you get to be with the one you love", she said almost in a slight whisper, just barely loud enough for Naruto to hear.

Naruto moved his eyes down to look at Sakura's glistening pink hair, it smelled like cherries and wild flowers like it always had from the academy years, he closed his eyes only for a brief moment to ingest the wonderful smell and opened them just as hastily. He turned his gaze to Sasuke's who locked eyes till Naruto averted them. Sakura pulled away and looked back at Naruto who put on a big smile.

She grabbed his hand and tugged him off back toward the festival, "Well Naruto aren't you going to introduce me properly?"

Naruto just limply followed her, as they came around the corner he could see Mayuko come into view.

"Sakura…", he started

"I haven't told her how I fell yet…", he managed to get out.

She stopped and turned around and gave him a light jab to his rib, " I wont say a word, I promise.", she smiled innocently at him as they stopped in front of Mayuko.

Naruto had seemed to lose his voice as he let out a coarse cough, "Mayuko…this is, uh this is _Sakura_."

Mayuko seemed a bit taken back by the introduction, but none the less bowed as a sign of respect. This was after all the girl that risked her life to save others, who were her people, even if she couldn't remember Mayuko held respect for people who cared more for a human life than selfishness, "I am honored to meet you Sakura."

Sakura nodded her head as she took in Mayuko's features; she was a very beautiful woman. Her body was curved and she had a few things that Sakura wouldn't mind having. Naruto obviously had good taste in woman.

"It is a pleasure to meet you Mayuko.", Sakura stated as Mayuko and Sakura meet eyes.

Naruto really needed an escape plan, as he eyed both woman from the corner of his eyes, not to mention he could see a not so pleased Sharighan user heading his way.

And than Naruto heard it. The soft music could be heard echoing within his ears. He could feel his stomach do flips; he hated dancing, almost as much as he hated not having ramen in the house. He always messed up the steps somehow, and made it look like he was fighting a battle on the dance floor. Sure when it came to winning battles on the field he was fearless, but when it came to dancing he was utterly hopeless. Mayuko and he stood off to the side as the other couples gathered together.

Next to him stood daydreaming Sakura and on the other side of her a very silent tranquil Sasuke.

"I'm gonna get to know Mayuko a little better", Sasuke whispered swiftly to Sakura. Who merely bobbed her head in acceptance, she understood the urge for Sasuke to recognize what drew Naruto to this girl.

"Dance with me.", Sasuke announced as he grasped Mayuko's slender hand and headed toward the large arena where others were joyfully dancing.

Mayuko couldn't get a word in as she was hauled off by Sasuke. Sakura couldn't help but let out a small giggle escape her luminous pink lips, Sasuke was never good at asking for things.

"She perfect for you Naruto", Sakura stated as she turned to gaze at Naruto, who to much surprise had a devilish grin spread across his innocent face. Sasuke may have attracted all the girls because of his astounding looks, but when it came to dancing he literally had to left feet.

"Baka..", he let roll across his tongue.

"Hey, you think you could do any better?", she gave him a playful long glance

Naruto knew where this was going and he wanted to get out of it really quick.

"No No, I don't believe I can do better, Sasuke is doing a great job."

He moved his eyes away from Sakura's and back to his hopeless clueless friend who had a noted look of confusion and frustration spread across his face. Naruto couldn't help but to laugh again.

Sakura reached down and clutched his hand, "Prove it." She took one step frontward and Naruto seemed to be drawn to her like a magnet. She found a open spot on the floor and moved over to it.

The song was fast beat, so she began to move her body back and forth, yes it was hard in a kimono but she wasn't going to let that prevent her from having fun. Naruto sort of stood for a moment until he realized he almost certainly looked like an idiot in the center of the dance floor not dancing. He began to move his body, when the song pace abruptly slowed down.

Naruto's heart did a back flip as Sakura stood there waiting.

"Uh Naruto, typically when a slow song comes on you have to be a little closer."

He stood his ground, not daring to move. She looked at him humorously, as she inched closer to his body. The slow song had already started to play and other couples were by now swaying to the peaceful melody as Naruto stood motionless, uncertain of what he would do next.

"Okay, Naruto perhaps I should help you."

Sakura reached down and grabbed his hand, "This hand goes here", she positioned it gently on her waist, after doing so she flashed him a immense smile.

She then took his other limp arm and enclosed her own hand into it. She ran her fingers in-between his, and applied slight pressure as to assure him everything would be alright. They stood still for a moment as the song played on. Something in Naruto's oceanic blue eyes made Sakura freeze up and look intensely into them. If she didn't know any better it looked like anticipation and pain mixed together. Her eyes searched for something in his eyes, she couldn't tell what, but it felt like everything had stopped and the only thing she could actually see at all was Naruto.

Before they even took one step Mayuko's voice could be heard. Sakura shook her head faintly and took a step back.

"Is that all right Sakura?", Mayuko repeated.

"Huh...um I'm sorry Mayuko I blanked out a moment."

"I was just wondering if I could dance with Naruto now."

"Oh, yes of course hahaha, I was just teaching him how to slow dance..."

Mayuko smiled, "Well I'll take it from here", and she turned her back to Sakura gently placed Naruto's hands on her waist and grabbed his other hand and began to dance away.

Sakura stood a moment as she watched them dance. Sasuke came and stood next to her. "Is everything alright Sakura, you do feel well don't you?"

Sakura shook her head vaguely, "Yes, I'm fine Sasuke I was just...thinking, thats all."

The festival carried into the late night hours, most everyone had gone by the time Sakura and Sasuke headed out, it was a little past midnight as Sakura stood with Sasuke outside her apartment door.

"I had a wonderful time Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke stood silent he wasn't relatively sure what he should say. He ran his hand through his hair, much like Naruto did.

"Yeah- Yes me too Sakura-chan."

They stood a moment longer, Sakura than leaned a little closer to Sasuke implying that she wanted something from him. Sasuke fully understanding what she wanted backed up alongside the railing.

With the slightest of ease he flipped onto the hood of the railing roof. Hanging upside down like a bat would, "I'll see you later Sakura.", he whispered before disappearing into the night.

_'That was a close one._', thought Sasuke as he made his way home.

Sakura was left standing in front of her door with a bewildered look, "Men" she exclaimed out loud.

Sakura wanted nothing more than to get out of her binding kimono, it had been an exhausting night and she could feel a minor headache coming on. She had so hoped for some type of indicator to her memory, but much to her dismay nothing really helped her remember anything more.

She promptly changed, and huddled up into her bed, she had finished reading her diary which mainly spoke about Sasuke. At times she believed she was nothing more than a little obsessed fan girl trying to hide her true feelings.

Even though her eyes were heavy and her head pounded slightly she opened up the diary again to re-read a passage.

_Dearest diary,_

_Ino-pig tried to steal Sasuke-kun away today, even though I know she wants to be with Shikamaru. I swear that girl just does it to make me mad. After Sasuke's return, Naruto has been spending less and less time with me, I swear he is just caught up in training. Still you can't hide from your feelings…I mean the feelings toward Naruto, I mean the feelings Naruto has toward…"_

After that passage, there was a great deal of scribbles across the page, and an angry cartoon of Sakura. Sakura slowly closed the book and laid it down on her desk. She lay back down on her bed, and a grave sigh escaped her lips. She brought her hands to her head and ran her slender fingers through her pink hair. She flipped on her side quickly and found her eyes closely. It wasn't long until she drifted into a deep sleep.

Several faces flashed before Sakura's eyes, she was unsure of what was going on. She looked around to find a little girl with pink hair standing behind a swing set crying. The corner of her eyes matched the color of her hair as she rubbed vigorously at them. She was wiping her tears away but they just kept falling like a leaky faucet.

_'is… that me?…_', Sakura questioned out loud already recognizing that it was. Before she could even take a step forward, she could see the large crowd of boys and girls laughing at her.

"Who has pink hair anyway?", she could hear being whispered

"Do you think she will always have that huge forehead?", someone laughed as they pointed at her

They were teasing and taunting her as a figure stood next to her. It was a very small blond boy, who puffed up his chest and walked out to the crowd. A few soft whispers could be heard before the children ran away.

"My mother told me he was evil…" whispered another girl before she was out of sight most likely in fear.

A pain stricken look appeared on the boy's face, before a soft smile set in. He turned around placing both of his hands into the pockets of his shorts.

"Are you alright Sakura-chan?", he asked

Sakura wouldn't bring her eyes to meet his so he walked over to where she was standing, "They are just being jerks don't pay any attention to them."

She spoke in between her sobs, "They..sniff…told..sniff…me…I have a big…sniff forward."

"You do Sakura-chan", he responded not knowing this wasn't the smartest answer to say. It only made the tears in her eyes clump together and fall faster.

He looked around as he pulled his hands out of his pockets to calm her, "Even if you do I think it is the most beautiful forehead I have ever seen, I swear Sakura-chan I wouldn't lie. The rest of the kids just can't see where your really beauty comes from.

He took his finger and pointed it at Sakura's heart, "From in here, that is what really matters."

Sakura looked up from the ground, ceasing her tears from falling, as a few sniffs escaped and looked curiously at the boy who had a warm smile across his face. His eyes were looking into hers youthful green ones, with nothing but love and care.

She unexpectingly hugged him tight, locking her fingers together behind his back. The boy stood a moment his arms sticking out and his face full of shock that she was hugging him like this.

"Thank you Naruto."

She pulled away, and placed a soft, warm kiss on his clod cheek. Naruto felt like his skin was on fire when Sakura's innocent lips touched his now red cheek. She lingered a moment before she pulled back, the tiny pink ribbon that held her hair together slipped off as she raised her hand to wipe a stray tear allowing her vibrant pink hair to brush her shoulders.

Naruto looked at her in awe as if she was a angel instead of a little girl, her orbs or greens glistened as the tears began to fade, and Naruto found for the first time in his young but harsh life his heart was beating a hundreds time per minute because of love instead of out of fear.

"Get away from her…Sakura come here NOW", both Naruto and Sakura turned to face Sakura's ill tempered aunt.

Sakura ran over and Naruto could see she was being scolding for being near him. Sakura however did not let one stray tear slip from her eyes for being punished. Sakura's aunt turned back to Naruto and gave him a malicious glare before taking Sakura's hand and walking away.

Naruto watched as they were almost out of sight as Sakura turned her head around and gave Naruto the warmest smile he had ever seen, before she was out of sight.

Sakura stirred a moment as she opened her eyes wide and quickly sat up in her bed; she reached to turn her lamp on. She was in a stunned state; she didn't know what was going on.

'_Was that a dream, or a memory?'_, Sakura thought. She was utterly confused as she sunk back into her bed.

_'Did I dream about Naruto?' _


	12. Cross My Heart

This is a long chapter to make up for not updating! (I had finals)

Cross My Heart

Sakura dragged her feet along the floor, the lack of sleep obvious on her face as her eyes remained partly open.

"Hi Sakura", she would hear ever so often, but her response would come muffled and delayed.

She wasn't certain what she was doing, just roaming around the village. The heat from the sun caused sweat drops to form at her brow. She wiped them away nonchalantly. A familiar face came running by but slowed when he noticed it was her.

"Hello Sakura-chan you look…", Lee wanted to say breathtaking, but under Sakura's eyes the evident black bags made it quite hard to lie.

"Wonderful?", he chimed blushing slightly, not sure if it was from lying or being overly shy around her.

She gave him a short smile to his comment knowing it really wasn't true at the present moment.

"Out for a little jog", she asked him

"Yeah, just a light 50 mile run before I train", he stated in a normal tone.

Sakura's eyes widened when she heard what he had said, "50 mile light run?", the words choked on the way out of her mouth.

Lee just nodded his head again, as if it was no big deal.

"I would ask you to join me, but you don't look like you want to take a jog. Is anything bothering you Sakura I would like to help?"

She looked at him surprisingly; she linked her hand around his and walked to a shaded area under a tree. She leaned up against it as Lee sat next to her.

"How about we just enjoy the cool breeze for a little while, huh."

Lee whose cheeks were still bright red nodded in agreement.

Sakura made some small talk and asked Lee some questions. Lee became so caught up in explaining he forgot to pause during his sentences. When he looked over he found Sakura leaning against the tree fast asleep.

He let out a heavy sigh, thinking he had bored her to sleep. He bent down quietly and picked her up and headed toward her apartment.

Before turning the corner to her apartment, he almost bumped into Sasuke, who gave a worried expression about Sakura's condition.

"Lee, what happened to her, is she alright?", he asked stopping in front of Lee.

"Oh Sasuke she is fine, she just fell asleep while I was talking to her."

Sasuke gave him a odd look, "Fell asleep, while you were talking to her?, Huh Lee, I really don't know what to say to that."

"I was on the way to the training grounds to meet Neji, he is gonna kill me for being late, but I must take Sakura home."

Sasuke extended his arms out and told Lee he would take Sakura home. Lee gave a kind smile to Sasuke as he placed Sakura into his arms.

"Take care of her.", he winked and placed a thumbs up in the air. Sasuke only shook his head nervously as he looked down as Sakura; this was the closest he had been to her.

He walked back toward her apartment, trying very hard to ignore the looks he was getting, when a whistle came through the crowd, he turned a slight cherry red, hoping desperately he was nearing his destination, when she opened her eyes.

"Good Morning", she stated as she snuggled up close to Sasuke, which made him nearly drop her.

Naruto was turning the corner when he noticed the scene unfolding in front of him. He stood a moment hesitant if he wanted them to see him, and quickly decided to head back the other way, when he heard his name being called.

"Naruto…!", Sasuke's voice could be heard echoing.

Naruto turned to see Sasuke putting Sakura down. Sakura also noticed Naruto and began to wave him over. Naruto heedlessly made his way over.

"Hey guys shouldn't you wait till after your married before you guys parade around like that?", Naruto asked teasingly.

"Baka, I'm gonna…Kill you.", Sasuke screamed as he began to chase Naruto around. Before Naruto knew it he had hid behind Sakura and grabbed her behind her forearms.

He stood briefly behind her before he left go, Sakura could feel his tense body behind her and blushed as she turned to face him.

"You two honestly, will be the death of me."

Sasuke hoped onto the roof, "I have a meeting with ANBU, Naruto make sure Sakura gets home safe."

Naruto stepped in front of Sakura, "Hey Sasuke come on you know I…", but before Naruto could finish Sasuke vanished.

"He has got to stop doing that", Naruto and Sakura stated in unification.

They turned to face each other, the tension between them apparent.

"Look Naruto, I know you must be busy you don't have to hang around and babysit me…"

"No it isn't anything like that Sakura, I just…", but Naruto could notice the look of discontent across Sakura's face.

"Don't be ridiculous you're my best friend Sakura, it is not babysitting."

They began to leisurely walk to her apartment.

"So Naruto tell me more about Mayuko, How did you two meet?"

Naruto was caught a little off guard by the unexpected question, "uh ah how did we meet, we met…" Naruto hating lying to Sakura.

"I…can't remember", he managed to get out.

Sakura looked at him, one eyebrow arched, "Well if it is a secret you could have just said so."

Naruto just blushed lightly unsure of the response.

They walked in silence for a few more minutes as Sakura's apartment came into view.

"So Naruto, how come we never worked out?", Sakura asked bluntly

Naruto felt like someone had just jabbed him with a kunai straight in his stomach.

"Wh-what?", he asked a little shaken

This caused a trivial laugh from Sakura, "You know how come you and I never got together?"

Naruto moved his hands up and down to find a correct answer. He had no idea where this was coming from, "Well you never liked me that way." Naruto laughed.

"I never liked you that way?"

" I mean WE never liked each other that way." Naruto hastily corrected himself

"We were just always friends, yeah than best friends, and now still best friends." He was blabbering and he knew it.

Sakura took a step closer to him, which made him shut up pretty quickly.

"Naruto you're blabbering again ", she began

"Well things worked out for the best, we both got what we wanted", she finished.

"We wouldn't want it any other way..." Sakura stated.

"Right…both got what we wanted" Naruto finished gazing deep into her eyes.

Neither Naruto nor Sakura noticed that they were being followed.

Jiraiya took out a piece of paper and wrote, boy and girl deny feelings for each other. He felt a tap on his shoulder which he hastily ignored.

"Go away I'm busy." He stated without looking up from his clean white sheet.

The tap came harder this time, with much more force.

Jiraiya had his microscope pulled out and was still spying on Naruto and Sakura. "Hey baka, can't you see I am trying to do some research here, can you go bug someone else."

Next thing Jiraiya knew he felt the force as strong as a tornado slam against his left cheek. He flew out into the middle of the street about 15 ft from where he was hiding. A giant dust cloud could be seen forming where Jiraiya had landed.

"Oh my, that poor old man", Sakura stated as she tried to make her way over.

"I wouldn't do that…", Naruto stated as he stopped her.

Tsunade could be seen stomping over," Think you can call me a baka and live to tell about it."

"Oh Tsunade, ha owww ha owww I would never call you…" he stopped

Tsunade latched onto his ear and began to drag Jiraiya behind her. She stopped and waved to Sakura and Naruto. Who with great fear waved back quickly.

"Brings back memories of when you used to…" Naruto began but promptly stopped, he wasn't gonna remind Sakura that she used to punch the hell out of him.

He laughed nervously, "hahaha you know never mind."

"Wow why do you think they fight that much?"

"I don't know they are just so used to it."

"I don't think I could ever do that to somebody."

Naruto just smiled, "I'm sure you couldn't."

"I have to meet Ino at the dress shop, we are shopping for our dresses.", Sakura stated as she turned her gaze from the bickering duo to Naruto.

"Will you walk me there?"

Naruto remained silent, but motioned forward, taking a few steps, "Well aren't you coming?"

It wasn't a long walk; both remained silent as they strolled up to the door. Sakura hesitated about asking him to go in, assuming it would be a slight bit awkward. But before she made up her mind, Mayuko could be seen exiting the shop with a dress in tow zipped up in a black bag.

"Naruto…", she let slip.

"Mayuko…Hi.", Naruto let a smile slip to his face that caused both Sakura and Mayuko's heart to jump upside down.

"I was just on the way to get some lunch…ramen. Do you wanna join me?"

The bright smile only grew on Naruto's face upon hearing the word lunch and ramen in the same sentence."

"Yes, I would love to."

The two began to walk away, as Naruto turned around and gave Sakura a wave goodbye. Sakura brought her hand up slowly to wave back, causing a large lump to get caught in her dry throat.

She didn't have much time to ponder on what she felt as Ino pulled her inside the shop forcefully.

"Could you be any later?"

"My apologies Ino I should have been on time."

Ino blinked a few times, she had to remember that Sakura was not herself these days, and hearing such a sweet reply to her question made her anger boil over.

"It is…alright, I am not mad", she responded rapidly letting a friendly smile slip to her face.

Ino and Sakura flipped through at least a hundred dresses before Ino found one she liked; Sakura however was not quite as lucky. She just wasn't interested in finding the perfect dress, and it didn't help that there wasn't a dress that attracted her attention.

Ino tried to cheer the apparently distracted Sakura up, "Oh Sakura don't worry, no matter what you wear Sasuke-kun will love it."

Upon hearing Sasuke's name Sakura perked her head up. "You're not upset anymore…about Sasuke?"

A graceful smile set in upon Ino's face as Sakura and she made their way to the checkout to pay for Ino's dress.

"I grew up, I stop chasing around the boy everyone wanted, I realized it had always been a silly crush, and it would always remain a impractical little crush. I wanted someone to love me with all their heart, Sasuke was never going to feel that way about me. "

Sakura just stared on, "How did you realize you weren't in love with him?"

As they exited the dress shop, Ino raised her shoulders in the air to shrug off Sakura's question.

But Sakura wasn't going to let it go.

"How did you realize that you didn't love Sasuke, Ino?"

Ino raised her eyes, "Does it matter Sakura? You don't have anything to worry about you have the guy you always wanted."

Sakura became quiet, after Ino's response.

Ino let out a sigh, "I realized I loved someone else…"

"I was losing the only guy that loved me…that's how I realized I loved him more than I could ever love Sasuke."

Sakura raised her eyes from the ground to look into Ino's. A voice brought her to turn her head forward.

"Troublesome, Ino do I have to wear the tie.", he questioned arms folded casually across his broad chest.

"Yes baka you do and it has to be blue to match my dress."

Ino left Sakura's side and gave Shikamaru a light jab on the shoulder to emphasize her point. Shikamaru merely annoying glanced at her.

"I'll see you later Sakura, if I don't pick out a tie now, he'll just make an excuse up for your party." She began to walk away, Shikamaru close behind her.

Ino turned before Shikamaru and her were out of sight and let a sly wink escape her eyes. Sakura caught a hold of the glance and understood everything perfectly.

Ino had fallen in love with Shikamaru, her best guy friend. Someone she had pestered and bothered and beat up for years. Did Shikamaru feel the same way about her? Did he love her like Ino thought?

Than Sakura began to realize she too…was beginning to have feelings for her best friend, and not just the "you're my best bud feelings..", No Haruno Sakura was beginning to fall in love with Uzumaki, Naruto.

The same Uzumaki Naruto who loved someone else, and then again wasn't she supposed to be head over heels for Sasuke.

The gust of wind behind her broke her thoughts, "Hokage-sama would like to see you."

Speaking those brief seven words the ANBU member hastily disappeared, not liking to waste time. Sakura did not even have the chance to respond, but made her way toward the office.

Upon arriving to the office she could hear muffled shouts behind the door, at first she was unsure whether to knock or even go in, but she had been summoned and not entering wasn't a option. She gently raised her hand and used her knuckles to knock hard enough over the shouting to be heard.

As she pulled her hand away the shouting died instantly and a firm voice commanding her to enter took its place. Sakura without much hesitation entered the Hokage's very messy office.

It became all too clear why she had heard shouting when she noticed the same old man from earlier sitting across from Tsunade, holding a large bag of ice to his bruised face.

He stood up quickly when Sakura entered, "Why heeelllloooo…"

As if on que a fat book hit him in the head causing him to fall face first to the ground.

"Don't be pervey Jiraiya.", Tsunade responded standing from her seat and stepping over him as she made her way to Sakura.

"You wanted to see me Hokage-same."

"Yes, I have something for you."

Tsunade opened up a closet and pulled out a black long cover, in an instant Sakura could tell a piece of clothing was hung underneath it.

"I hope you don't mind, I had the liberty of holding this for you, just in case you hadn't found a dress yet."

A thoughtful look came across Sakura's face, "Even if it wasn't her dream dress, it was very nice of the Hokage to have done this for her."

"No I haven't found a dress yet, thank you", she reached over and graciously took the black bag.

"Won't you try it on", Tsunade asked a sly smile across her face.

Sakura shook her head as she began to unzip the holder. Her eyes lit up as the black holder fell to the floor; she never would have dreamed how beautiful the dress would be.

It was a one shoulder raven black dress it was lined with tiny crystal rim stones along the waist, the lower portion of the dress flowed out beautifuly; not seeming like it would cling to her petite body like the binding kimono had.

"Is it alright?"

"Its…perfect", Sakura replied in a daze.

A sound smile set across Tsunade's face, she felt pleased with Sakura's response, "Try it on."

Sakura motioned past Tsunade towards a door on the other side of the room; she opened it and closed it in a hurry, not wanting to waste any time trying on her perfect dress.

A thought swept her mind, she wondered if Naruto would like the dress.

'_Whats wrong with me, I could never do that, I could never hurt Naruto that way, he is in love with Mayuko, and I have Sasuke…but I don't understand why I feel the way I do…I keep telling my mind to stop thinking about Naruto, but my heart won't listen."_

Muffled voices from the room made her lose her train of thought, this time however it was someone else other that Jiraiya, Tsunade was speaking to.

"I want a mission. Now."

"This close to the party..?"

"Yes, I will be back in time for the party, I just…wanna get out...for now."

She could only make out a few words; she pressed her ear to the door to be able to listen better. A bright red blush present on her face for eavesdropping.

"Naruto…"

Sakura's eyes quickly widen, Naruto wanted to leave?"

"How long are you going to run away for…"

"I'm not running away, I just need to get away."

"You should tell her the truth Naruto…"

"I'm not the perfect man she dreamed of…"

Back and forth it went between Tsunade and Naruto, until she unwillingly handed him a scroll, "Don't miss it." Venom iced in her voice

He nodded as he turned his back and headed for the door.

"She will figure it out Naruto…whether you tell her or not."

Naruto opened his mouth to responded but shut it when Jiraiya spoke up.

"Someone's listening", he stated a coy smile creeping to the corners of his lips.

Sakura surprised by what Jiraiya said took a step back, and crashed to the ground loudly.

"I'm alright", she bleakly stated.

Naruto practically turned pale as he eyed Tsunade, who merely smiled devilishly at him.

"Come on out Sakura." Tsunade stated as she turned to face the opening door.

Jiraiya dropped his ice pack, "Oh my…." was all that he could get out

Even Tsunade was caught off guard by the sheer beauty.

Sakura's face however was not nearly as thrilled, for Naruto was nowhere in sight.

"He's not coming?"


	13. Out and About

Chapter Title : Out and About

Sorry will try to finish story soon, been super busy moving! Please Review!

"He is…coming?", Sakura managed out closing her lips tightly in surprise to her own reaction.

_'Why did it matter so much….of course it mattered he was her best friend after all, that's why it mattered…naturally.'_

A quick glance was exchanged between Tsuande and Jiyara before she opened the floor for discussion.

"He will be back", she announced however the way it came out it sounded like an order rather than a statement.

Sakura not wanting to look ridiculous about whining of Naruto's departure dropped the topic quickly. She hurried out of her dress and left the Hokage's office in an awkward hurry. As the door slammed behind her it only took a few seconds to hear the loud arguing again.

She held the dress firm in hand as she made herself down a familiar road.

She let a sarcastic snort escape her lips almost sounding bitter.

"Familiar?"

Nothing seemed familiar everything was just one big blur, the way people looked at her when she walked by, she was grateful, but the glances turned into pity. She didn't need pity; she was not going to let her memory loss take over her life.

Another coarse snort escaped.

She was far from a party mood, but how could she let the people who loved her down. The sky was a beautiful bright orange as the rays of the sun began to dip behind the great mountain. She felt like this was the most beautiful scene she had ever seen, but something deep in her mind made it feel like she had seen this before.

"Beautiful isn't Sakura."

She tilted her head up toward the sky to find Kakashi-sensei leaping from a high rise building, famous ichi-ichi paradise book in tow.

"Do you mind?" He motioned his hand forward indicating that he wanted to join her on her walk home.

He looked down to the black bag, knowing what was underneath it, "You excited about your party?."

Instead of answering the question Sakura countered with one of her own, "What was it like training us?"

Kakashi without having to think for a single second responded, "Absolutely the craziest thing…but one of the greatest times of my life; watching all three of you grow, your trials and tributes I can say it reminded me of my younger teammates.

A tiny smile curled across Sakura's lips. "Did I always want to be with Sasuke, Kakashi-sensei?", a hint of anticipation in her frail voice.

"Well let's just say you weren't paying any attention to me or Naruto", he laughed

The smile bent downwards, "Was I…always mean to him?"

Kakashi at once understood the subject had changed from Sasuke to the energetic blond, "Well you made him what he is today Sakura."

Sakura didn't need kind words to understand that she had said and did awful things to Naruto, perhaps even the day before she left she was probably being a jerk to him.

"You know you were just kids Sakura, Naruto never held anything you said against him. He pushed and trained hard because you were always there with him. He wanted to bring Sasuke home for…the both of you."

Sakura could feel something tugging at the corner of her eyes but she pushed forward not allowing them to fall. "I better hurry home Kakashi-sensei, I have a great deal of planning to finish tomorrow.

"Yes, well I'm off.", and with a flick of the wrist he was gone, much like the fading light in the sky.

As Sakura paused in front of her door she reached out and grabbed the note hanging on her door, she read through it quickly.

_Hope you found what you were looking for = ) - - Ino. _

She held the note firm in grasp, she was usually very good at concealing her feelings put a sudden rage overtook her and she kicked the railing in front of her apartment, causing the solid iron to snap and plummet toward the ground.

In a sheer instant she realized what she had done and rushed to look over the side, hoping she had not hit anyone in her blind rage.

Hinata looked up at her a solid blush line present across her face as the iron rail lay merely meters away from where she was walking.

"Bad day?", she shyly called up.

"Can..can you tell?", Sakura asked in a childish tone.

Sakura stood with her back to Hinata as she opened the door, "Please excuse the mess", Sakura stated as she opened the door.

She switched on the light and everything was as neat and tidy as ever, "Hinata couldn't tell if anything was messed up at all."

"You- when you get upset you clean a lot…"Hinata murmured out slowly.

Sakura turned around surprised because this was true, "What else do you remember about me..?"

Hinata started twiddling with her slender fingers, "I also remember how much you care about Sasuke."

"Is that what defines me to everyone, oh there is Sakura the girl that loves Sasuke, the Uchiha clan heir.", she mumbled under her breath bitterly which did not go unnoticed by Hinata.

Hinata let a small smile set across her face, "Why don't I make some tea…".

"And that's how I found out I loved Kiba more than anything in this world, even more than myself. When he tried to give me up so I could have a chance with my crush, it takes a lot for someone to be able to do that. "

Sakura grabbed the handle of her cup tightly, "That's so beautiful Hinata."

After a small moment of silence, "So who was the crush, anyone I know, well anyone I used to know?"

A bright red blush appeared on Hinata's face she knew everyone had known about her little…well enormous crush on Naruto.

She began to fiddle aimlessly with her fingers again, "Well…hahaha, it is kinda funny if you think about it, but Naruto will always remain the same person I admire."

Sakura looked up from her cup to a blushing Hinata, "You…you liked Naruto?"

Hinata eased a little and nodded her head slightly, "You could put it that way"

"So…how did he feel about you?". Sakura knew she sounded a bit overbearing but she knew this was her chance to get some real answers.

"Well he was always there for me, and aside from being a tad weird to him we were generally very good friends.

He always had his eye on that one special girl.

Sakura's stance tensesed a little as she got the point about Mayuko. Hinata noticed the abrupt change in Sakura's face.

"Well Sakura I know you didn't feel that way about him, but it is good news you two are such good friends."

"Feel that way about him..?"

"Well you always...", Hinata cut off

"Ran around behind Sasuke..." she finished.

Hinata bleakly shook her head.

"Hinata do you think it is ever too late to change."

A bright smile set in upon her face, "No, it is never too late, sometimes your heart doesn't let you realize what you really want. Love just happens Sakura, there are no boundaries, no reasons, you can't help who you love. If there is anything I have learned it is telling the truth about the way you feel with fix everything, letting someone know you love them will either allow you the chance to be able or the power to finally move on."

Sakura watched in awe as this shy petite girl standing in the middle of her living room, who she couldn't remember anything about before a few weeks ago was convincing her whole heartedly to tell Naruto the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

"But…I don't feel that way about…."

"Don't feel that way about who?", Hinata piped in.

"Him…", Sakura let slip.

The forest always spooked Naruto a little, especially when he was all alone. All those childish ghost stories stuck through the years, but he would be damn if he ever admitted that to anyone.

Naruto pushed himself forward as the sun was fully emerged; he was on a simple scouting mission, much to his protest with baa-chan to give him a lengthy dangerous one instead.

"Granny wouldn't want me missing anything…", he mumbled out loud sacrastically.

Naruto wanted nothing more than to be hundred miles away from Kohona, but the truth of the matter was no matter how much physical distance he put between him and the city it didn't stop the growing ache in his heart.

Sure he believed in miracles, especially after finding Sakura alive, but he knew Sakura would never feel that way about him. Why couldn't he just get that, she had said no from day one, and she would keep saying no until he died, that part he was quite sure about.

It didn't even bother Naruto that Sakura was madly in love with Sasuke, it used too, it used to kill him to try to spit his feelings out without joking, but really speaking his true heart to her and she would fall head over heels for Sasuke again. What would a guy be left to do, but sit and wait and pick up the pieces when Sasuke forgot a small unimportant detail.

Sasuke was a good friend, even after everything that had happened Naruto would always want Sasuke and Sakura's happiness above his own. Sasuke always understood Naruto's pain, but Naruto wouldn't let the goof ball keep pushing a girl like Sakura away just because Naruto was in love with her.

"Love…", he whispered softly as his feet quietly landed to the uneven ground.

He was done with love; he wanted nothing more to do with love he was fed up with…

A slight movement in the bushes caught Naruto's eyes. He didn't make a single movement; he knew he was still a great deal away from the enemy, so this has to be something else. Naruto thought up a plan quick in his mind that he felt would even make Shikamaru proud and pounced into action.

He would use his flash speed to appear in front of the unknown ninja and take the element of surprise, okay so Shikamaru would be a little bit more careful, but Naruto knew he could handle whatever was behind that bush.

"3. 2. 1…"

He stood face to face with familiar face, causing his stance to drop and his feet to become tangled, allowing his childish ways to appear once again. As quick as Naruto had jumped in front of the bush, was equally as quick as he was facing the uneven ground.

A hand reached out, "Need some help?"

Naruto without hesitation took hold of the hand firmly, "Wh-what are you doing here?"


	14. Over me

Thanks for reading please review!

W-What are you doing here..."

The slight giggle took Naruto by surprise again, who was pulling himself to his feet more with his own power than with the help of the slender woman facing him.

"I had to find you...I had to tell you something."

Her words were received with a blank stare and than a fiery blush. Naruto cursed himself, feeling the vivid red across his face broaden. He wasn't used to women being so...blunt with him.

This only allowed more cooed giggles to flee her pink lips.

"If granny finds out you barged in on this mission, she will throw a legendary fit, ya know?", he responded sounding a slight bit more controlled, but a bit of interest sparked in his voice.

Mayuko smiled a pulsating smile, a hint of mischievousness in her eyes, "Would you mind me coming along, do you really think I would screw up a low rank mission", one eyebrow rose almost daring him to answer.

Naruto merely remained silent having a internal battle in his mind, it wasn't like he was going to send her back, even if he wanted to he didn't really think she would listen, than again some company wouldn't kill, it might help take his mind of the current issues at hand.

"So, decided if you are going to let me tag along willingly, or if I am just going to have tag along without your permission."

He looked at her bemused, "You can tag along as long as you can ke-"

Before he could finish she was already promptly on the move.

"Why do I bother...", he sighed and chased after her.

Naruto noticed the evident change in her attitude, while she was in the village she seemed so hushed and shy, but this was a sarcastic side of her Naruto had not seen. As not to fall to far behind, he amplified his speed to catch her.

They swiftly flew through the branches, landing with perfect balance, and each exchanging a crafty smile to each other, as if trying to outdo one another in a contest.

"So... you mentioned earlier you has something to tell me", Naruto asked.

It was Mayuko's turn to blush faintly, she needn't turn her head to look at Naruto but she could feel the intensity of his eyes fixed on her.

"Well, I-", and she paused

"You see", and she paused again.

She really didn't imagine it would be this complicated.

Naruto merely remained quiet but the corner of his lip curved upward as he saw her struggle. He wasn't going to lie, Mayuko was a very striking and gifted woman and to see her tongue tied made her seem more humun to him.

"I think, I have developed something....", after she finished saying it out loud her brain instantaneously understood what it sounded like.

"I don't mean developed something bad...well it is just a feeling....well a strong feeling.

"A strong feeling?", Naruto asked a bit puzzled.

"Yes...", she hesitated.

"Hahaha, like heartburn after eating ramen?", he laughed more to himself.

Mayuko let her stunning smile slip to her face upon Naruto's comment, "No, nothing like that."

A short silence conceded before she spoke up again.

"I have developed a strong feeling for...well for...you."

It was in that moment the unexpected happened.

"Naruto...?"

The rain sounded almost faint to her ears, as she tried to sit quaintly on the cold stool, back turned to the furious down pour. Her body felt the cold drops that escaped crashing the ground, instead landing on her smooth, warm skin. She sat slouched very much unlady like, not that she was worried at the current moment how lady like she looked.

The clattering of utensils in the back ground allowed her to focus on the oval shaped bowl of ramen that sat over half full; the once blistering steam dwindled to the cold air. Her hand held her head up, she was sure if it slipped her face would go slamming into the ramen, the thought only brought a smile to her face.

Sakura could see Naruto going face first into the bowl, not much of a surprise there

"Thinking of me?", a warm voice echoed

She spun around in fear more than surprise, allowing a mechanical squeak to come from the aged stool.

Besides the bustle of a few people to get out of the rain, she couldn't find the owner of the voice.

Her eyes encircled the crowd, scanning more or less like a mad woman.

Her eyes caught a hold of a bright orange object, ducking behind the ally, and before she could reason with her mind, her feet had reacted.

She jolted from the icy stool, out into the madding rain, trying to power past the tiny crowd on her quest.

She didn't even know what she was doing, but what ever courage she had in her would only last for a little while, before the urge to mask the way she felt about him took over again.

She had to do this now, rain or no rain. She had to tell him the truth, didn't she owe it to him, and hell didn't she owe it to herself. She had no memories left, but she didn't care, all she cared about what telling him the truth.

As she turned the corner the flash of orange disappeared again. She yelled out, hands extended as if she could magically reach him, she yelled out above the great noisy rain droplets falling feverishly against the pavement.

"Naruto, wait...please just wait."

And the orange fuzz that seemed so far away froze. A head peeked from around the corner to meet Sakura's emerald green ones. But the eyes that met hers where not a piercing blue she searched for, they were almost dark brown.

"Oh, Sakura-san is Naruto-san back?", he yelled over the rain, using his umbrella to cover her.

The man dressed in orange Sakura had been trailing, the man dressed in orange she had been chasing and building up her inner strength to spill her guts to, wasn't even the one she was looking for.

"No..he isn't. I just...saw your scarf, and..."

"Oh, hahaha yes whenever I wear this thing and people get a glimpse of it they all assume it must be Naruto-san. I should be flattered to be mistaken for a legend like him", he aimlessly replied, not even realizing Sakura's lack of attention to the conversation.

"Yes...well I should be going."

The young nin insisted on Sakura taking the umbrella with her, but Sakura found the comfort of the rain drops soothing against her aching body. She didn't care if she got sick, this feeling, this feeling she was feeling now was all she could think about.

She crossed her arms over her chest as to shield herself slightly, as if trying to magically block out the cold. The streets were nearly empty now, those that walked along the road all held on firmly to their umbrellas.

She knew if she didn't get out of this rain soon, it really would be the death of her. A large black umbrella shielded her once again, causing the droplets from the end of her hair to become visible.

"You are trying to get sick?", the tone of his voice was not mocking or mean, but a plain simple statement.

"Sasuke..."

Sakura turned around, her wet cloths making noises as she moved her body.

"Now I would like to ask you, what you think you are doing in the middle of town, in this rain?"

"We didn't go all the way to save you, so you could come home and try to die by sickness.", this time a hint of sarcasm did appear in his voice.

Sakura let a laugh slip, she didn't know why but she felt at ease with Sasuke, when she wasn't trying to get him to seduce her. She never realized how good of a friend he really was because she was always so busy chasing him around.

They stood there a few moments, Sasuke managing to help Sakura forget about her depressive state.

He held the umbrella high above her head, his hand never tiring. It wasn't until he began to close it that she noticed the rain had stopped. She ran a hand through her hair feeling the damp moisture locked in.

Sasuke reached out and ruffed it, returning her electric smile with one of his own, "Look Sakura, the real reason I came to find you was, I wanted to know...well this may sound weird, but I wanted to know what made you, or what makes you like me so much. Is there any sort of memory you came across, because it seems the first few days you were very distant, which is understandable after you ordeal, but it seems one day you decided that I was the one. What brought on the sudden change?"

Sakura looked up to his dark onyx eyes, true she had been harboring feelings for Sasuke's best friend, but she did want to tell Sasuke the truth about what she read. She wanted to tell him the truth about what she remembered the day she decided she wanted to be with him.

Fate however had other plans.

"Naruto-san is back!

"Naruto-kun is back already!", little boy shouted excitedly

Sakura moved her eyes from Sasuke, to a small child running past them. Sasuke noticed the smile Sakura had on her face grew ten times wider and brighter all at the same time. He could not remember seeing a smile this big on her face, even before they went on their life-changing mission. In this smile, Sasuke could see what Sakura wouldn't even admit to herself. In this smile, Sasuke could see right past Sakura's words, straight into her heart.

"Why don't we go greet Naruto at the gate?"

Sakura tore her eyes away from the area the child had run off to, and back to Sasuke's onyx orbs. She hurriedly shook her head, as her once damp hair was almost dry now.

The two turned and walked in a casual manner up the hill to where they could see a good view of the gate. And true enough, the vibrant blonde hair was easily visible. But it wasn't the blonde hair that caught either Sasuke nor Sakura attention.

It was the other nin who the blond had his arm around, that caused the uproar of jealously, and almost pain to swell up in Sakura's heart. Whatever courage she had, whatever she wanted to say to Naruto had just flown out the window.

As the children gathered around him, as if he was some kind of new toy, his arm never left Mayuko's side. Soft, laughter could be heard even from on top of the hill, though it seemed nothing less than bone-chilling to Sakura.

She swiftly turned on her heal, and began to walk back toward her apartment.

"Sakura-wait aren't you goin-", but Sasuke was abruptly cut off.

"I have so much to do before tomorrow; I want to look wonderful for you Sasuke-kun. I will see Naruto tomorrow. You are still escorting me right?", her voice softly questioned.

Sasuke sighed and let a small smile set in, even though she could not see it, "Yes, of course I will escort you."

She nodded her head and mumbled a small, "Thank-you", before she swiftly disappeared. Sasuke stood atop of the small hill looking at Naruto and Mayuko make their way through the crowd of children.

Something caught him off guard as he looked up to the sky once again.

"Looks like rain", he stated out loud in an exhausting tone.


	15. My Confessions

Please Read and review! Thanks Guys

Chapter Title: My Confessions

She looked carefully into the mirror as is she had found a dark and ugly black spot forming into the middle of her face, she looked carefully at the person looking back at her. She felt spineless, she had avoided, no she had downright evaded with all her power, the one person she wanted nothing more than to be with. It wasn't like it mattered he didn't bother to come look for her anyhow.

And now, as she stood in front of this mirror all her friends huddled together downstairs awaiting her arrival she felt like her knees would cave in. It wasn't like she was ungrateful or afraid of what they would think, what if Naruto and Mayuko were draped in each other arms, could she control her emotions, could she stop the fluttering in her stomach, she highly doubted.

Why would Naruto want to be with her anyway, she had been head over heels "In love" with his best friend, she was the biggest brat to him ever, and she knew she didn't need memories to know that was true.

"Why would he even want you…" , she looked roughly at herself in the mirror. Sakura didn't believe she used to believe in self-pity. This was the way life was supposed to be, she was supposed to be with Sasuke, and Naruto was supposed to be with Mayuko and there was no changing that. Dreaming never made the dream come true, it just made it harder when you woke up.

She inhaled sharply as she heard the crowds of people downstairs, how long was she going to hide up here. A subtle knock came to the closed door.

"Sakura? Are you feeling okay?" , Sasuke's voice was velvet as if he understood her dilemma and was trying to be encouraging.

"I'm fine, just finishing up.", her voice sounded dry and hoarse as she tried to clear her throat.

A moment of silence passed and Sasuke spoke up again, "Do you…want me to get Tsunade?"

"No.", she briefly answered

"I'll be down in a minute."

He stood a moment, "Sakura I really need to talk to you about yesterday, about why you.."

"Sasuke", a faint echo could be heard.

It broke Sasuke train of thought; he tried to continue speaking, when he heard his name being called again. He sighed profusely, "Listen we need to finish speaking, I'll be back."

She didn't even hear him walk away; she waited a moment, "Sasuke?"

When no answer came she relaxed her frame a bit, what was she going to say to him, "Hey I read a entry in my diary that convinced me I was meant to be with you, only to realize I love your…"

This childish game had to stop, everything was meant to be the way it was, and if it was meant to be any different it would have been. Period. She gave herself one more glance in the mirror, her hair flowed neatly to her shoulders, her dress clung to her breath taking figure, her eyes were bright and she allowed a prime smile to set upon her face. This was her day, and even if that meant she had to murder those butterflies she would attempt to have a good time today.

She threw the door open, and blushed slightly as it plucked easily off its hinges, she had to remember she had to be gentle or she could rip an arm off.

She briskly made her way to the stairwell , that led to the open space down stairs, the once hushed echoes were now ringing in her ears. She could easily recognize a few people among the crowd. She nervously grabbed the railing feeling a wave of nausea she hoped to make an unnoticed entry, but as her eyes wandered the room, many people became aware of Sakura's demanding presence.

Whispers flew around the room.

"My she looks breathtaking."

"Wow."

"Her parents would be so proud."

Her eyes continued to wonder around the room, until her gaze rested upon Sasuke, who had a bit of an infuriated look across his face, probably because he had not gotten a chance to speak to her alone, and now among the crowd it would be very difficult.

"Naruto, you look a little...", Shikamaru began but was cut off my a sharp slap from Ino.

"Oh my goodness, look at Sakura.", she stated.

And as everyone hushed and turned around to look, Naruto stood his ground for a moment, he saw the eyes of his friends light up and curiosity also got the best of Naruto.

He turned around to face Sakura. And his heart hit the ground at 60mph. She looked like an angel walking down the stairs, well as close as an angel can get in wearing black. She looked more beautiful than Naruto had dreamt of, and after dazing at her in awe. She locked eyes with him.

A confident smile reached her face, as she felt fiery glow arise from her cheeks. She felt like everyone was staring at her.

After her eyes meet with Naruto they stood a moment frozen in time, her green eyes dare not move from his blue. She didn't want to break the gaze; she wanted to melt into a puddle staring into those eyes but as she reached the bottom of the stairs, Sasuke reached out his hand to receive her.

She broke her gaze from Naruto, to look at Sasuke who looked amazing in his dress suit. He replaced the look with a smile.

"You look stunning Sakura."

She nodded her head in appreciation and smiled back to him as she slid her arm into his. He shuffled a moment trying to adjust to Sakura on his arm.

"Look Sakura we really need to just get away and talk for a bit, I really wanted to know…."

He was interrupted by an hefty crowd that began to form around them. He thought of a wonderful evil idea, but decided against doing it.

Naruto who snapped out of his day dream state, spun around to face Shikamaru yet again. The genius had an all knowing smirk across his face. It didn't take a mastermind to know how Naruto felt about Sakura, but he had gotten so good at hiding it.

Mayuko reached out to touch Naruto on the arm, "Is everything alright?"

Naruto threw on his famed smile, "Yes, everything is fine I just need some fresh air. "

Mayuko responded, "Do you mind if I go with you?"

Shikamaru gave him an inquisitive look but was dragged off to meet Sakura and Sasuke before he could comment.

"Wow Sakura, you clean up nice.", Ino joked

Sakura gave her a shocked expression. Sasuke was so busy looking around the room to even hear what Ino was talking about.

"Where's Naruto?"

Shikamaru spoke up, "He needed some air so he and Mayuko stepped out onto the balcony."

Sasuke shook his head and let go of Sakura's hand.

"I'll be right back.", he walked off without saying another word.

Naruto stood with his back to the door, looking out at the sun setting off toward the horizon. Mayuko stood next to him leaning towards the railing.

"Beautiful.", she commented

Naruto had his eyes closed, an image of Sakura appeared upon hearing the word, he shook his head and opened his eyes, "No…breathtaking."

Mayuko allowed herself to stand up straight and really look out toward the sun.

"Naruto…"

"Huh", Naruto answered still thinking about locking eyes with Sakura. The hurt he felt after they connected always bothered him but it had been growing lately, he wanted no he needed a way to escape feeling that way.

"I'm going back home soon.", she spat out.

This however brought Naruto out of his train of thought. He liked Mayuko, she was a very nice person, yes he didn't love her but he cared for her.

"Why, what's wrong… is it me?"

She laughed slightly moving closer to him, "No silly, its time I go back, I just feel like I will miss you a great deal. Some part of me wishes I could stay, but maybe you can come visit me one of these days. "

Naruto thought for only a moment before he answered, "Why don't I visit you now?"

Mayuko raised her eyes to meet his, "You want to go back with me?"

This time Naruto paused a moment, he couldn't forget Sakura's eyes, and he felt a pain stab him in his heart.

"Yes."

Mayuko instantly had her hands thrown around Naruto's neck, "You really want to go back with me."

That's exactly how Sasuke found them when he entered the balcony; he cleared his throat to announce his arrival. Mayuko unclasped her hands and understood the urgency in Sasuke's onyx eyes. She gave Naruto a brilliant smile before excusing herself.

As soon as she was gone Sasuke turned around with a confused look upon his face, "What was that?"

"Well Sasuke I have decided that I am going to…"

"Do you really think I am going to by the fact that you love Mayuko instead of Sakura."

Naruto ran a hand through his hair, feeling that ache in his heart again. "Look can we just drop this okay, I used to fight with you when we were little about this, let's not do it now."

Sasuke stood there speechless.

"She had a choice Sasuke and she chose you again….she picked you all over again, don't you get that?"

"Naruto…I'm sick of this Naruto." , Sasuke stated not knowing what else to say.

"So am I…please excuse me okay, I need to speak to granny about something important.", he walked past Sasuke who watched the last rays of the sun dip behind the mountain.

He wanted to punch Naruto, he hadn't felt like that in a long time, but he didn't know what else to do to get it into his head. But what Naruto had said was true, did Sakura really pick him all over again, and if so, why?

He stood outside for what seemed like only a few minutes to him, it wasn't' until he felt a hand rest on his shoulder, "Hiding out?"

He turned to face Sakura.

"You have been out here for almost half an hour."

He ignored her comment and grabbed her hand and stocked off further away from the crowd. A bit stunned Sakura quietly followed him.

He came to a small bench and abruptly sat down, Sakura followed in suit. The two remained quiet for few moments. Sakura looked up to gape at the sky, but could see a small group of clouds forming.

"Sasuke I think it is going to rain, shouldn't we head back in?"

He ignored her question, "Sakura are you happy?"

She immediately nodded her head, "Yes, Sasuke I am, why?"

He phrased his question differently he wasn't good at this "feeling" business, " Are you happy with me, do you want to…be with me? "

She was caught off guard for a moment, "Well Sasuke I have always wanted to be with you."

"Sakura, just because you always wanted to be when you hadn't lost your memory doesn't mean you have to be."

And that hit Sakura like a ton of brinks, Sasuke was right she had been so caught up trying to be who she was then that she ignored who she could have been now. She sat quiet again for a moment and out of the blue let out a short laugh.

"Hahaha, ironic isn't it? Sitting on a bench again having the same kind of talk we did as kids."

Sasuke raised his eyebrows, "Sakura I think making up memories won't help you get yours back."

She stopped laughing and nudged him, "Come one Sasuke that's why I developed a crush on you, and followed you hopeless all those years ago. You see after what you told me sitting on that bench, after we had been placed in our teams, I knew you understood me. At least that is what I wrote down in my diary.

Sasuke looked at her, "Sakura, I yelled at you that day."

"Yes, but that was because I was being rude to Naruto, I understood why you did that, but before you did that you told me what I wanted to hear not just because I wanted to hear it, but because that's the way you felt. And when you almost kissed me…that was going to be my first kiss."

That's when Sasuke jumped up from the bench, "Sakura I know with your memory loss it's hard to believe but that sounds nothing like me that sounds like something…" and Sasuke stopped.

He just stopped mid sentence and said, "That crazy idiot."

Sakura who stood from her position glanced once more toward the sky and back at Sasuke.

"Crazy idiot?", she repeated confused.

"Sakura…that wasn't me, that wasn't me that day. Well it was me, but I was the one that yelled at you about Naruto I didn't try to kiss you."

Sakura took a step back more out of confusion than resentment, " Wh-what… it was, I know what I wrote Sasuke it was you, that was what made me realize being close to you was how I would get my memory back. What do you mean it wasn't you?

"It was Naruto. It was Naruto using a technique to mimic me to get close to you, Sakura he has always wanted to be close to you."

She felt her lungs begin to close, "Naruto? Naruto said all those things; it was Naruto the whole time."

Sasuke shook his head, "It's always been Naruto Sakura, he has always…"

Sasuke couldn't tell Sakura the way Naruto felt, Naruto had to be the one to say it.

"Go", he stated

"Sasuke, I can't…You…"

"Sakura, I know how you feel about him; maybe you should let him know."

She gazed into his onyx eyes before turning on her heel and running back toward the party. As she was out of sight Sasuke finally noticed the large clouds settling up ahead. He wasn't one for omens but it didn't look good.

Sakura was nearly out of breath when she entered the building. She looked down at her feet for a moment hoping they didn't swell in these shoes. She hadn't seen Naruto since they locked eyes when she first arrived, so she still had to officially meet him.

She gazed around the room to find the energetic blond, but couldn't find him anywhere. She walked through the great hall and smiled and nodded heads to the other guests.

She was stopped by an ecstatic Lee.

"Sakura-chan you look so beautiful, you must save me a dance…"

"Lee, I really can't talk right now I am looking for Naruto have you seen him?"

And like clockwork Lee remembered something, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a long box with a ribbon on it.

"This is for you."

"Thank you very much Lee you shouldn't have, but it is very important that I find Naruto."

"This is from Naruto."

"From Naruto, why do you have it?"

"Well he pulled me aside and asked me to give this to you, he said he had to leave and wasn't sure when he would have the chance to give it to you."

"Leave? He isn't here?"

"No Mayuko left with him, both of them spoke with the Hokage and immediately left after that but like I said before he left he asked me to give you this. "

Sakura looked down at the box, she had to find Naruto she had to tell him how she felt. He never told her it was him who had said all those things to her that day.

So she did the only thing she thought to do she ran out of the hall and towards his apartment. She could feel the ache as she rounded the corner and saw his apartment complex. She had no idea what she would say, how she would explain to him that she always wanted to be with Sasuke because of the things Naruto had done.

She felt a pain in her heart thinking about all the times she chased after Sasuke and how Naruto had always been by her supporting her wanting her to have what she wanted, not knowing that she wanted him.

She reached his door and pounded her fist like mad; she could feel tears swelling up from the pain in her feet. She knocked over and over again until her eyes caught hold of the note on the door. She read it out loud.

"_**Dear Landlord, collect the rent from Granny. Sasuke, please forgive me for not saying goodbye, I don't know when I'll be back, I just need….some time. Please don't be angry it's for the best. - - Naruto " **_

Sakura sank to the ground, he was going away…with Mayuko. Had Naruto fallen in love with Mayuko. Is this what she deserved for all those years of treating him badly? Did Naruto not love her, like she thought?

All those built up tears decided it was time to come out, as they flowed down her red cheeks. She sat there back against the door in her stunning one of a kind dress crying. She raised her hand to wipe away her tears when she realized she had Naruto's gift in her hand.

She gently untied the bow, and lifted the lid on the box. She found a note sitting on top with her name on it. She opened and read.

"_**Dearest Sakura. I know we didn't have to get you anything, but I did. It isn't much, it really isn't anything I was just hoping it would help bring your memory back, and even one small memory is something. I have always had this with me, and now I find it is best suited when with you. Please be happy no matter what, that's all I want for you. Your best friend - - Naruto" **_

She looked into the box and lifted out Naruto's gift. A headband, a Konoha headband, but it wasn't brand new and shining, it was old it had dents and marks and scratches. But Sakura understood, this was Naruto's first headband, and he was giving it to her. She brought it to her chest and hugged it tightly. Upon doing this her eyes noticed something it hadn't before.

She picked up the ribbon she had untied, it also looked old. Upon reaching out and raising it to eye level she felt as if someone had punched her in the stomach. This ribbon, this frail pink ribbon had been the one she had lost when Naruto had stood up for her that day as children. It hadn't been a strange dream, it had been a memory.

Naruto had kept it for all these years, Naruto had kept something so tiny so unimportant to her with him for all these years? Sakura rose to her feet not letting her mind think but instead wanting to follow her heart, which she knew belonged to Naruto.

She had to reach the gates, she had to try to stop him she would run all the way to the mist village to bring him back, she didn't care. She loved him with all her heart. She ran out of the building and was instantly met with a down pour of icy rain.

It soaked her in seconds, and she could barely see anything, but nothing was going to stop her, she had his headband clutched tightly in one hand and the pink ribbon in the other. The rain cut into her skin like shuriken, and she could feel the throb in her legs as she tried to run as fast as she could.

Her mind was racing as wildly as her heart, could she stop him? Would he stay if she told him she loved him? In the mist of all the craziness and the fact that she could barely see her heel broke off as she tumbled forward, landing hard on the rocky ground.

She lay there a moment still refusing to let go of the head band or ribbon. Her fingers were feeling numb from the cold, the rain drops still falling thunderous onto her frail body. She wanted to get up she knew she did but her body felt so limp and weary, everything around her was going black and the last thing she could remember was Naruto's lovingly smile before darkness took her.


	16. All I ever wanted

Please review, always love it.

Chapter Title: All I ever wanted.

Sakura fluttered her eyes open and close a few times, she didn't know where she was or what was going on but she felt exceedingly cold. Her fingers were aching as she reached out and tried to stretch her arms. She felt rigid and before she could react to anything she began to cry. Large bulbs escaped her eyes, and trickled down her cheeks.

She was in a white room with no windows or doors, she didn't know where she was as she searched frantically for others and than a heart stopping thought occurred to her.

"Am…am I dead?", she proclaimed out loud.

The words slipped out as she reached up to cover her mouth, had she really died? She began to cry once more bringing her hands up to her face and burying her red eyes into them, her cries echoed in her own ears.

"Don't cry", a soft voice called out.

Sakura raised her head to meet eyes with Naruto, who had his hand extended out to her. She opened her mouth but no words seemed to form.

"Don't cry Sakura-chan, I'm here."

"Naruto… I'm so afraid, I am so sorry I always knew it was you, I tried to hide it, deny it, but I knew… I loved you."

He merely stood there hand still extended a smile rising to his handsome face.

"It is alright Sakura."

She simply smiled at him; if she was dead she would be blissful if Naruto would stay with her. She wanted nothing more than to take his head and melt into his warm arms. She looked down at his extended hand and was a bit taken back.

Instead of the hand of a man she found the hand of a boy, her eyes once again motioned toward his face and instead she found a 10 year-old-child.

"Sakura," his voice nothing but a whisper.

"You need to go home."

She glanced at her own hands and established she was a child as well, she was feeling overwhelmed. Like her head was spinning. She gazed toward Naruto again who no longer was a child.

"You have to go home Sakura, I'll be there."

Sakura could feel her eyes getting heavy.

"You promise", she knew she wasn't a child anymore as she glanced down to check her hands.

"I promise. I never go back on a promise."

He turned around and began to walk away, hands placed casually around his neck, Sakura fearing he would leave her alone jumped to her feet and reached out to touch him.

"Naruto, wait…wait for me."

Her eyes opened widely, as the noise of the machine echoed in her ear. She could feel the warmth of the blankets cover her body, and outside the window she could see the gloomy intense rain. She wasn't in her normal clothes and by the looks of it had been in the hospital bed for a few days.

Her eyes fell upon the desk next to her bed where she found the headband and ribbon neatly placed ahead of numerous vases of flowers.

Sasuke was sitting close to her in a chair, looking over some paper work when he instantly met her eyes.

"I knew you were trying to killing yourself in that rain", he sarcastically stated.

She winced as she remembered what happened, and used her arms to sit upright, a long IV tube ran into her arm and she wanted nothing more than to yank it out.

" How long have I…?

"You have been here for three days."

"What happened?"

"Well after our talk I waited a few minutes before I followed you in, when I couldn't find you or Naruto, Lee had informed me what was going on. I figured you might have tried to go and stop him so I went to the gate first when I didn't see you I decided to check Naruto's apartment. I found you, you had a large wound on your head and you were unconscious. I brought you here immediately."

Sakura raised her hand to touch her head, she couldn't feel the gash anymore assuming the Hokage had used her healing powers the instant she saw her. And then a thought crossed her mind as she looked deeply into Sasuke's mysterious eyes.

Sasuke in a heartbeat knew what she was going to ask.

"Where…is he?", she could sense her dry throat trying not to give away the apprehension in her voice.

Sasuke let out a grave sigh as he moved the paper work away from his lap and leaned forward, "Sakura, if he had known you were hurt he…we have sent messengers to notify him, no one is quite sure where he is right now."

Sakura could feel the swell of tears begin but she pushed them back, what was she really expecting some kind of happy fairytale ending. Had she really thought she could just sweep in and have him love her all over again? She wasn't even sure if he would have forgiven her.

A nurse walked in and slowly paced over to Sakura checking the machines and taking notes on her clipboard. The pen tapping against the clipboard was so loud Sakura could hear it echoing in her ears

Sakura remained quiet for as long as she could until the nerve in her head began to pop.

Shinomaru, will you please stop that racket", she briskly stated not trying to sound mean.

Shinomaru immediately stopped the tapping and nodding her head.

Sasuke however stood from his chair and swiftly grabbed Sakura's shoulders and gave her a light shake.

"Wh-what did you say?"

She was stunned for an instant but regained herself promptly, "I- I told Shinomaru to stop tapping the pen so noisily against the clip board."

Sasuke looked deep into her eyes his skin tensing at her touch.

Shinomaru, have you introduced yourself to Sakura yet..."

Shinomaru made her way over to the dismal girl, "No, I arrived back from a mission late this morning I haven't seen her since her - "

Shinomaru stopped speaking, "I'll inform Hokage-sama.", she was out the door before the blink of an eye.  
Sakura apparently still out of full function didn't understand what was going on. Sasuke let a reassuring smile slip to his face as he engulfed her into a tight friendly bear hug,

" Your home."

Those words echoed in her ear louder than the tapping of the pen. Naruto told her she had to go home. Sasuke says she was home. These boys were always confusing thought back to the time they fought during the chakra control exercise, why did boys always have to be so …."

And she paused, mid thought.

"Ask me something?", she shakily requested.

"The current Hokage of Suna?"

"Gaara"

"The color of Atasuki's cloak?"

"Red and black."

"Who you fought in the first Chunnin exam?"

"Ino."

"Kakashi's test?

"The bell exercise."

Sauske stopped asking and rose from the bed. Sensing a presence, which arrived a few moments later.

" How is she Sas…", Kakashi however paused when he saw Sakura's frame upright.

"Kakashi-sensei…"

And in just saying his name, Kakashi knew she had returned.

"We…missed you Sakura."

Tears formed in Sakura's eyes, she had missed herself. Her memories, her past, her life had been taken away and now she had it all back. But she was not fully happy, for a certain blonde was no longer in her life.

"What if…he never comes home?", she asked in a sadden voice

"I never gave him a chance, all this time and I never…"

Kakashi let out a sigh, "Sometimes it takes something immense to help up appreciate where we belong Sakura, and Naruto belongs here with you, do not give up hope."

She shook her head and prayed Kakashi-sensei was right.

Three weeks had gone by and Sakura began to relive her life. She refused to be bed ridden or have to stay at home staring at the walls, she had been away for too long, she went straight back to working long shifts at the hospital. She told herself she missed the hectic medic life, but truth be told she would do anything to not let her mind think of Naruto.

She decided to write a letter to Naruto, and whenever the day came she would give it to him. Perhaps when they were old, or when she was on her death bed. She wrote her heart out into this letter beginning from the day Naruto had rescued her, all the way to their childhood. She placed it in an envelope and though she felt she never would have the change to give it to him she kept it with her always.

After an extensive shift at the hospital Sakura decided she wanted to sit in the park for a little while to watch the sun dip behind the horizon. When she arrived she was quite thankful there wasn't anyone there. Instead of sitting on the bench, she made her way over to the swing and gently sat down, testing to see if it would take her weight.

When she found a comfy spot she closed her eyes and leaned back a moment. So many thoughts raced through her head. She could feel the light leaving the sky as she looked out toward the horizon only to have her view blocked.

She squinted her almond shaped eyes, and realized it was Naruto standing before the sunset. She however waved it off, she had been seeing Naruto everywhere lately, and whenever she wasn't at the hospital she would see him in town, or at the Ramen shop, or on the training ground. And though she put on a brave face for her friends she could never let anyone know how much she really missed him.

She turned her attention back to Naruto and waited for her eyes to close and for him to merely disappear, like some cruel joke her mind would play on her. She opened and closed them a few times only to have a pair of confused eyes look at her.

"Na-Naruto?" she asked rising from her seat.

He stood sheepishly a moment, Sakura took a step toward him and he raised his hands in the air to stop her.

"Wait….let me just say this, or I swear I will never be able to…"

Sakura stopped dead in her tracks.

"I…I have always loved ...you Sakura-chan. And I don't mean as a best friend, or a brother. I have always admired you, I always wanted to be better for you. But you were always in love with Sasuke.

Sakura opened her mouth to speak. But Naruto cut her off, "I need to finish."

"I spent three weeks away from this village, hoping I could forget anything and everything about you."

Sakura lowered her emerald eyes.

"But I can't."

She looked up and straight into Naruto's ocean blue eyes.

"I learned no matter how far I try to run away from you, my heart always returns. I couldn't stop thinking about you, and I would rather be in your life every single day as you friend, than never see that radiant smile upon your face again. "

Sakura stood speechless, taking in each word with new hope in her eyes.

"You have always wanted to be with Sasuke, and I will not stand in your way Sakura, when you get your memory back you will remember all the times he was there for you, and I know he loves yo…"

"Shut up Baka.", she interjected.

Naruto immediately ceased his speaking, had she been offended by what he said, he had to say it, it was killing him by not saying it.

"I'm sorry Sakura, I don't expect anything in return if that's what you are worried about."

"Why not?"

Now Naruto was a little confused as she walked toward him.

"Wasn't it you who risked your life for me against Gaara, wasn't it you who made a promise of a lifetime to bring Sasuke home. Wasn't it you who told me never to give up on him even though you were in love with me? Wasn't it you Naruto who made me grow stronger, wiser, kinder with that smile." Baka…I don't love Sasuke, not like how I love you Uzamaki Naruto #1 unpredictable shinobi of Konhoa.", Sakura was nearly on the verge of tears when she reached him.

She closed her eyes to conceal her tears, but they crashed down her cheeks anyway. She was raising her hand to wipe them, when she felt smooth hands cup her cheeks and stop the flow of them.

"Don't cry Sakura-chan"

She opened her arms and jumped to reach his neck, "You stupid stupid Naruto, never leave me again, if you are going to make anymore promises…promise to never leave me."

Naruto wrapped his arms around Sakura and felt himself melting into her body. She unhooked her arms and placed her lips against his. Naruto felt like he was going to collapse as he felt his knees begin to go weak.

A stretched cough broke them apart. Naruto turned his gaze from Sakura to Mayuko and Sasuke.

"I'd like a little credit too", Mayuko mused.

Sakura gave her a joyful smile, expressing her gratitude among it.

"His heart always belonged with you Sakura."

She bobbed her head slightly, and intertwined her fingers between Naruto's.

"We should go see Tsuande-sama, she wanted to discuss something about your rent…?"

Naruto let a embarrassed blush find its way to his face, " Hahaha that was just a joke."

As they began to walk away, Mayuko and Sasuke exchanged an interesting and curious glance.

"So you want to show me what's so special about those eyes of yours?"

"I'd thought you'd never ask.", Sasuke stated extending his arm to the mesmerizing woman.

Before the sun slowly faded away and the night stars began to shine Naruto leaned in to whisper into Sakura's ear, "I thought…I had lost you Sakura. I thought you would never come...come home to me."

She took his arms and wrapped it precisely around her petite waist as he rested his chin delicately on her shoulder. She remained silent for a second or two simply enjoying the feeling of Naruto's arms around her before she tenderly spoke up.

"No matter where I go Naruto…I will always…always come…back to you."

-Fin -

Wow I did it! Thank you so much to all who reviewed, it really means a lot to me. I am so thankful I got this story out of my head. I am writing a new one soon. It will be much different but still NaruSaku baby, but I am going to try a new style of interaction between them. Please be sure to check it out, and review as often as you can It's my inspiration!


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